V 

THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 


THE  LIFE 


THE  APOSTLE  JOHN. 


Now  there  was  leaning  on  Jesus'  bosom,  one  of  his  dis- 
ciples, whom  Jesus  loved— John  xiii.  23. 


WRITTEN   FOR  THE   AMERICAN   SUNDAY-SCHOOL  UNION,   AND 
REVISED  BY  THE   COMMITTEE   OF   PUBLICATION. 


AMERICAN    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    UNION, 

NO.    146  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1835, 

By  Paul  Beck,  Jr.,  Treasurer, 

in  trust  for  the  American  Sunday-school  Union,  in  the  Clerlv's 
Office  of  the  District  Court  of  (he  Eastern  District  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 


THE 


BELOVED   DISCIPLE 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  Lord  Jesus  loves  all  his  disciples. 
When  he  was  upon  earth  he  showed  the 
greatest  attachment  to  those  who  were  his 
chosen  companions  ;  and  one  of  the  last  things 
that  is  said  of  him  is,  that  having  loved  his 
own  who  were  in  the  world,  he  loved  them 
unto  the  end.  Yet  among  them  all  there  was 
one  man  who  is  called  the  disciple  ivhom 
Jesus  loved.  It  was  John.  Not  the  John 
who  was  sent  before  Jesus  to  proclaim  to  the 
Jews  that  their  Messiah  had  come  ;  hut  the 
apostle  who  wrote  the  gospel  that  is  called  by 
his  name,  and  the  three  letters  called  the  Epis- 
tles of  John,  and  the  book  of  Revelation. 

We  are  not  told  why  the  Lord  particularly 

3 


4  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

loved  John,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  suppose 
the  reason.  From  many  things  that  are  told 
of  him,  and  from  his  letters,  it  is  plain  that 
he  had  a  very  kind  and  amiable  disposition. 
His  letters  are  full  of  benevolence  and  affec- 
tion ;  speaking  of  little  else  than  the  love  of 
Christ,  and  entreating  Christians  to  love  one 
another. 

Just  such  was  the  character  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  himself.  He  was  God,  and  God  is  love. 
All  the  disciples,  excepting  Judas,  were  good 
men  ;  but  none  of  them  appears  to  have  been 
so  much  like  Christ,  in  this  respect,  as  John. 
It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  the  Lord  should 
feel  a  particular  attachment  to  him,  and  that 
he  should  become  known  as  the  disciple  whom 
he  loved.  But  whatever  may  have  been  the 
reason  for  giving  him  this  title,  the  fact  that 
he  was  so  called  makes  his  history  the  more 
interesting;  and  it  is  the  object  of  this  work 
to  relate  all  that  is  known  about  the  beloved 
disciple. 


L^iKE   Uf   GENALoAULT. 


THE  LAKE  OF  GENNESARET, 


In  that  part  of  Asia  wliicli  is  known  by  the 
name  of  Palestine,  there  is  a  large  and  beauti- 
ful body  of  water,  which  is  sometimes  called 
the  sea  of  Galilee,  because  it  is  in  the  district 
of  that  name  ;  and  sometimes  the  sea  of  Tibe- 
rias, because  the  large  city  of  Tiberias  was 
built  on  its  banks.  It  was  also  called  the  lake 
of  Gennesaret.  This  lake 
is  about  sixteen  miles 
long,  and  six  or  seven 
broad,  and  the  river  Jor- 
dan passes  through  the 
middle  of  it,  from  north 
to  south.  The  water 
is  very  pure,  and  it 
abounds  with  excellent 
fish.  There  are  several 
towns  and  villages  on 
the  sides  of  this  lake,  and  many  persons  ipade 
their  living  by  supplying  them  with  fish.  The 
fishermen  used  to  go  out,  in  their  small  boats, 
some  distance  from  the  land,  and  let  down 
their  nets  into  the  v/ater,  until  they  caught 
A  2 


THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 


enough  to  take  home  and  sell.  Most  of  the 
persons  who  were  employed  in  this  business 
were  poor,  but  many  of  them  very  respecta- 
ble. It  is  not  likely  that  they  made  much 
money  by  it,  and  they  were  probably  satisfied 
if  they  gained  enough  to  maintain  their  fami- 
lies from  week  to  week. 

At  the  time  of  which  we  are  about  to  write, 
there  was  a  man  among  these  fishermen  by 
the  name  of  Zebedee.  He  and  his  wife  Sa- 
lome lived  at  the  upper  end  of  the  lake,  in  or 
near  the  city  of  Bethsaida.     They  had  two 

sons,  one  of  whom 
was  named  James, 
and  the  other  was 
John.  We  cannot  tell 
how  these  sons  were 
brought  up.  People 
in  the  situation  of  Ze- 
bedee and  Salome 
could  not  have  been 
able  to  give  their  chil- 
dren much  learning.  But  it  does  not  require 
persons  to  be  rich  to  train  up  their  families  in 
a  right  manner.  Parents,  however  poor  they 
may  be,  may  teach  their  children  the  fear  of 


'JX 

^'Y 

/ 

I 

,_^ 

i«i5?sr^^f 

^==S^W 

}^z^rr:=::^   -  S=^^~f 

>^^ 

?^^^s^^ 

/ 

f=CD^^ 

Y^^^^  ^^C 

Tiberias 

^IP 

v^^=^^ 

c^ 

"'  i!/^~v.^^ 

— ^ 

LAKE  OF  G£XN£5ARET.  7 

the  LorcU  which  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom^ 
and  is  worth  more  than  all  human  learning. 
And  many  of  them,  too,  have  time  to  teach 
them  a  great  deal  of  very  useful  knowledge  of 
other  kinds.  If  Zebedee  and  Salome  were 
able  to  read,  as  most  of  the  Jews  were,  they 
could  find  time  in  the  evening  to  give  lessons 
to  James  and  John,  while  they  were  young. 
And  they  might  in  the  same  way  have  taught 
them  to  read  and  understand  the  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  Testament;  or  if  they  had  not  the 
Bible  at  home,  they  could  teach  them  to  re- 
member what  they  heard  read  from  it  in 
the  synagogue  every  Sabbath.  For  at  this 
time  the  New  Testament  was  not  written. 
And,  as  printing  had  not  then  been  invented, 
only  those  persons  had  the  Scriptures  who 
could  afford  to  have  the  Bible  copied  with  a 
pen. 

But  we  know  nothing  of  the  infancy  and 
childhood  of  Zebedee's  two  boys.  When 
they  were  old  enough,  their  father  took  them 
with  him  to  fish,  and  they  learned  to  help  him. 
And  if  John  was  as  kind  and  affectionate  then, 
as  he  was  when  he  became  an  apostle,  it  must 
have  given  him  great  pleasure  to  be  able  to 


8  THE  BELOVED  DIaClPLE. 

assist  his  parents.  Every  child  who  has  righi 
feelings  will  be  kind  to  his  father  and  mother. 
He  will  not  only  honour  them,  as  the  fifth 
commandment  requires,  but  will  be  glad  if  he 
can  do  any  thing  to  make  them  comfortable 
and  happy. 

John  and  James  grew  up  to  be  men  ;  still 
they  continued  to  help  their  father,  who 
was  now  becoming  old.  The  nets  which 
the  fishermen  used  were  made  of  twine,  and 
were  therefore  liable  to  be  worn  by  use,  or 
broken  if  there  should  be  a  great  many  fish  in 
them.  It  was  part  of  the  business  of  the  fish- 
ermen to  examine  their  nets  befoixi  they  went 
to  fish,  and  see  that  they  were  strong,  or  mend 
them  if  they  were  broken. 

One  day,  as  Zebedee  and  his  sons  were  bu- 
sily employed  at  this  work,  a  man  was  seen 
walking  along  the  shore.  He  was  about  thirty 
years  of  age  ;  but,  perhaps,  the  people  who 
saw  him  supposed  him  to  be  older,  for  the  ex- 
pression of  his  countenance  was  more  serious 
and  settled  than  is  common  at  that  age.  As 
he  came  towards  Zebedee's  boat,  he  had  to 
pass  one  in  which  there  were  two  fishermen, 
who  were  just  throwing  their  nets  into  the 


LAKE  OF   GENNESARET. 


9 


•  Bethsaida 


sea.  They  were  brothers,  named  Simon 
Peter  and  Andrew.  The  stranger  stood  on 
the  shore,  and  called  out  to  them — "  Follow 
jne,  I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men.'''' 

It  was  the  Lord  Jesus.  He  had  lately  left 
his  home  at  Nazareth,  and  come  to  Caper- 
naum, a  city  at  the  northern  end  of  the  lake, 
and  not  many  miles  from  Bethsaida.  It  had 
not   been   long 


since  he  be- 
gan to  preach, 
and  to  declare 
that  the  king- 
dom of  heaven 
was  at  hand. 
But  he  was  not 
unknown  to  all 
the  fishermen. 
Andrew       had 


been  a  disciple  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  John 
had  pointed  out  to  him  Jesus  as  the  Lamb  of 
God.  This  took  place  at  Bethabara,  in  an- 
other part  of  the  country.  On  the  same  day 
that  this  occurred,  Andrew  brought  his  brother 
Simon  to  see  Jesus,  and  it  was  then  that  he 
ffave  him  the  name  of  Peter.      There  was  an- 


10  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

Other  person  with  Andrew  and  John  the  Bap- 
tist at  that  time,  and  some  think  it  was  John, 
the  son  of  Zebedee  ;  but  this  is  not  known. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  all  the  fishermen 
on  the  lake  had  heard  of  Jesus  ;  some  of  them, 
perhaps,  had  heard  him  preach  in  the  syna- 
gogues. Zebedee  and  his  sons  may  have 
been  talking  about  him  as  they  sat  mending 
their  nets.  They  knew  that  the  Messiah  had 
been  promised  to  the  Jews.  Just  at  that  time, 
too,  the  people  were  expecting  him  to  come  ; 
and  though  most  of  them  thought  that  Christ 
would  appear  as  a  great  king,  yet  these  hum- 
ble fishermen  may  have  seen  from  the  doc- 
trines and  miracles  of  Jesus,  that  he  was  in- 
deed the  Christ,  and,  like  Andrew,  alread;^ 
believed  on  him. 


MIRACLE  AT  THE  FISHING.  11 

THE  MIRACLE  AT  THE  FISHING. 

But  there  is  another  account  given,  which 
is  so  much  like  that  which  you  have  just  read, 
that  many  suppose  it  is  the  history  of  the 
same  day,  except  that  it  tells  of  it  more  fully. 
It  is  this.  The  Lord  Jesus  had  been  preaching 
in  the  different  synagogues  of  Galilee.  He 
entreated  the  people  to  repent  of  their  sins, 
and  proved  to  them  out  of  the  Scriptures  that 
he  was  the  Saviour,  whom  God  had  so  long 
promised.  The  people  were  astonished  when 
they  heard  these  things ;  but  they  were  still 
more  surprised  when  they  saw  him  curing 
sick  persons  of  all  kinds  of  diseases,  not  by 
giving  til  cm  medicine,  or  attending  them  as  a 
physician,  but  simply  by  telling  them  to  be 
well,  or  touching  them  with  his  hands. 

All  the  people  in  Galilee  soon  heard  of 
these  wonderful  events.  Every  body  wanted 
to  see  Jesus,  and  to  hear  him  speak.  Many 
would  not  believe  what  they  heard  about  his 
miracles,  unless  they  should  see  them  with 
their  own  eyes.  Every  one  who  was  sick, 
or  had  sick  children  or  friends,  wns  anxious 


12  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

to  have  them  cured.  So,  wherever  Jesus 
went,  the  people  crowded  after  him. 

One  day  he  was  walking  by  the  lake,  which 
has  been  described.  The  people  came  flock- 
ing after  him  in  hopes  that  he  would  stop  and 
preach  to  them.  Seeing  two  fishing  boats 
which  were  not  in  use,  Jesus  stepped  into  one 
of  them.  It  belonged  to  Simon  Peter.  Jesus 
asked  him  to  push  the  boat  out  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  shore,  that  he  might  speak 
to  the  people,  and  be  heard  by  them  all.  Si- 
mon did  so ;  and  the  Lord,  as  he  sat  in  the  boat, 
taught  the  people  collected  on  the  shore. 

After  he  had  finished  speaking,  he  told  Si- 
mon to  go  out  further  into  the  lake,  that  they 
might  take  some  fish.  Perhaps  it  was  with 
the  kind  purpose  of  giving  food  to  the  crowd 
of  persons,  who  may  have  come  from  their 
homes  without  bringing  any  thing  to  eat.  Si- 
mon, however,  told  him,  that  they  had  been 
out  all  night,  and  had  not  taken  a  single  fish  ; 
but  as  he  had  told  him  to  do  it,  he  would  try 
again.  The  net  was  then  let  down  into  the 
water,  and  when  they  began  to  draw  it  up 
again,  they  found  that  it  was  so  fiall  of  fishes 
that  their  net  was  likely  to  break.     When 


MIRACLE  AT  THE  FISHING.  13 

Simon  saw  this,  he  called  to  James  and  John, 
who  were  in  Zebedee's  boat,  to  come  and 
help  him.  They  immediately  came  up  with 
their  boat ;  and  when  they  drew  up  the  net, 
they  had  fishes  enough  to  fill  both  the  boats 
so  full  that  they  seemed  ready  to  sink. 

When  Simon  saw  this,  he  knew  that  Jesus 
was  something  more  than  a  human  being  like 
himself.  He  knew  that  he  was  indeed  the 
Son  of  God.  And  as  men  feel  ashamed  of 
their  sinfulness  when  tliey  think  that  God 
sees  them,  and  know  that  they  are  not  wor- 
thy to  be  in  his  presence,  so  Simon  knelt 
down  before  Jesus,  and  said,  ^'' Depart  from 
me;  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O  Lord.''''  James 
and  John  were  also  astonished  by  this  mira- 
cle, and,  no  doubt,  felt  as  Simon  did.  But 
they  must  all  have  been  comforted  when  the 
Lord  told  Simon  not  to  be  afraid,  and  that  in- 
stead of  being  a  fisherman,  he  should  after  that 
be  employed  in  bringing  men  to  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  Tlie  words  of  Jesus  were,  "  Fear 
not;  from  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men.^^ 
That  is,  it  should  be  his  business  to  go  about 
preaching  the  gospel,  and  persuading  men  to 
become  Christians.  Christ  afterwards  com- 
B 


14  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

pared  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  cast- 
ing of  a  net  into  the  sea.  For  as  the  fisher- 
men throw  their  nets  in  every  part  of  the 
water  where  there  are  fish,  and  try  to  take  as 
many  as  they  can,  so  should  the  ministers  of 
Christ  preach  the  gospel  wherever  there  are 
sinners  to  hear  it,  and  pray  and  labour  that 
many  may  be  saved. 

Not  only  Simon,  but  his  brother  Andrew, 
and  James  and  John,  were  told  by  Christ  to 
follow  him.  Now,  perhaps,  the  young  reader 
supposes,  that  they  promised  they  would  do 
so  if  the  Lord  would  wait  a  few  days  ;  that 
Peter  must  first  talk  about  it  to  his  father 
Jonas,  and  John  and  James  to  their  parents  ; 
and  sell  their  boats  and  nets,  and  take  a  fare- 
well of  their  friends.  Or  perhaps  they  think 
that  they  did  not  like  to  go  until  they  had  first 
inquired  of  the  Lord  where  he  was  about  to 
take  them,  what  they  were  to  do,  and  how 
they  were  to  be  maintained  ? 

The  Lord  is  calling  upon  all  sinners  to  serve 
and  obey  him,  and  these  are  some  of  the  ways 
in  which  thousands  are  putting  him  off.  The 
Lord  commands  them  to  follow  him  noiv. 
But  they  are  not  ready  to  obey  ;  they  do  not 


MIRACLE  AT  THE   FISHING.  15 

like  to  trust  him ;  they  must  think  of  it  a  great 
while  first. 

No,  this  is  not  the  way  these  fishermen  act- 
ed. They  had  not  seen  much  of  Jesus,  and 
did  not  know  much  about  his  religion ;  they 
had  homes,  and  friends,  and  occupations. 
But  as  soon  as  they  heard  the  commandment 
of  the  Lord,  ^^  follow  me" — they  forsook  «//, 
and  followed  him. 


16  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 


JOHN  AN  APOSTLE. 

From  this  time  John,  and  the  three  other 
fishermen,  were  with  the  Lord  wherever  he 
went.  At  different  times  afterwards  he  called 
eight  others  to  follow  him;  and  he  called  these 
twelve  men  Apostles.  Jesus  knew  that  he 
had  not  more  than  three  or  four  years  to  re- 
main on  the  earth,  and  that  he  was  then  to  be 
betrayed  and  put  to  death.  It  was  very  im- 
portant that  there  should  be  a  number  of  men 
who  should  know  all  that  he  did,  and  hear  all 
his  instructions,  so  that  after  his  death  they 
might  write  a  correct  account  of  them,  and 
preach  the  same  truths  that  he  had  taught  them, 
all  over  the  world.  He  knew,  too,  that  though 
he  should  be  killed  and  be  buried,  he  should 
rise  from  his  grave  the  third  day  afterwards. 
It  was  very  necessary  to  have  persons  to  prove 
this,  or  it  might  be  said  that  he  had  not  be- 
come alive  after  Jiis  burial.  And  this  is  an- 
other thing  that  the  apostles  could  do  better 
than  any  other  persons,  for  they  were  with 
him  constantly  for  several  years,  and  knew 
him  so  well  that  they  could  not  be  mistaken 


JOHN  AX  APOSTLE.  17 

if  they  should  see  him  and  talk  with  him  after 
he  had  risen  from  the  dead. 

John,  therefore,  now  became  an  apostle. 
The  meaning  of  that  title  is  messenger,  or  a 
person  sent  on  some  particular  business.  The 
apostles  were  to  be  sent  to  preach  the  gospel, 
and  to  bear  witness  of  the  miracles,  and  death, 
and  resurrection  of  Christ.  And  that  they 
might  show  they  had  been  sent,  and  ought 
to  be  believed,  the  Lord  Jesus  gave  them 
power  to  heal  the  sick,  and  to  bring  dead  per- 
sons to  life,  and  to  perform  the  same  kind  of 
miracles  as  he  had  done  himself.  As  every 
one  ought  to  know  who  the  apostles  were,  you 
have  here  a  list  of  their  names. 

1.  Simon  Peter,  7.  Bartholomew, 

2.  Andrew,  8.  Thomas, 

3.  James,  son  of  Zebedee,    9.  Matthew,  or  Levi, 

4.  James,  son  of  Al-       10.  Lebbeus,  Thaddeus, 

pheus,  or  Jude, 

5.  John,  H.  Simon  Zelotes. 

6.  Philip,  12.  Judas  Iscariot. 

The  Lord  had  given  to  Simon  the  name  of 
Peter,  which  means  a  rock  or  stone  ;  and  he 
gave  to  James  and  John  the  name  of  Boaner- 


18  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

ges,  which  means  sons  of  thunder.  The 
reason  of  giving  this  name  is  not  known ;  per- 
haps it  was  meant  to  signify  that  they  were  to 
preach  the  gospel  with  great  power  and  suc- 
cess. John  was  of  so  gentle  a  disposition 
that  it  seems  strange  he  should  be  called  by 
such  a  name.  But  it  is  not  the  most  noisy 
and  violent  persons  who  do  the  greatest  good, 
or  have  the  greatest  power  over  men.  Mild- 
ness and  affection  will  most  commonly  have 
the  best  effect.  So  the  lovely  character  and 
persuasive  preaching  of  John,  may  have  had 
great  force  in  causing  men  to  feel  the  power 
of  the  gospel. 

As  long  as  the  Lord  Jesus  lived  on  the 
earth  his  apostles  were  with  him.  Until  after 
his  death  they  were  commonly  called  by  tlie 
name  of  disciples,  which  means  learners,  a 
name  by  which  all  Christians  were  afterwards 
called.  Almost  always,  therefore,  when  we 
read  of  the  disciples  being  with  the  Lord,  we 
may  suppose  that  John  was  among  them. 

He  was  with  the  Lord  when  he  spoke  that 
beautiful  discourse  which  is  called  "  the  ser- 
mon on  the  mount. ^^  We  may  believe  that 
John  listened  with  great  attention  to  all  that 


JOHN  AN  APOSTLE.  19 

he  said  ;  and  that  wJien  Christ  told  them  how 
blessed  it  was  to  be  meek,  and  humble,  and 
pure  in  heart,  he  prayed  that  he  might  become 
so;  and  when  the  Lord  said  they  should 
not  only  keep  the  commandments,  but  not 
even  have  an  evil  desire  in  their  hearts,  that 
John  determined  he  would  v/atch  his  heart, 
and  try  to  keep  from  every  sinful  thought,  and 
pray,  as  the  Lord  told  them  to  do,  "  lead  us 
not  into  temptation.'''' 

John  also  saw  the  Lord  perform  miracles 
wherever  he  went.  It  was  no  matter  whether 
the  people  were  sick  of  fevers,  or  palsy,  or 
leprosy ;  or  whether  they  were  lame,  or  blind, 
or  dumb,  and  had  been  so  ever  since  they  v/ere 
born  ;  the  Lord  cured  them  by  a  few  ^vords  or 
a  touch.  And  even  that  was  not  necessary  ; 
for  he  cured  persons  whom  he  did  not  see  at 
all,  when  their  friends  applied  to  him.  And 
by  the  same  divine  power,  he  brought  dead 
persons  to  life.  Some  of  these  he  raised  as 
they  were  laid  out  ready  for  burial ;  others  as 
they  were  carried  along  to  the  grave  ;  and  one 
man  came  alive  from  the  tomb  when  Jesus 
called  him,  though  he  had  been  buried  four 
days. 


20  THE  BELOVED  BISCIPLE. 

As  John  saw  such  works  as  these,  he  could 
have  no  doubt  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiahy 
for  no  one  could  have  done  such  things  with- 
out the  power  of  God.  He  was  indeed  con- 
vinced of  this  when  he  saw  that  Jesus  caused 
him  and  the  other  fishermen  to  take  so 
many  fishes  from  the  lake.  But  he  must 
have  been  more  and  more  convinced  of  the 
greatness  of  his  Lord,  as  he  saw  that  nothing 
was  too  hard  for  him  to  do.  No  wonder  that 
when  he  wrote  a  history  of  these  occurrences, 
he  began  by  saying  ^^  the  Word  was  God.'*'* 
How  could  he  doubt  it  when  he  saw  him  do 
the  works  of  God?  And  how  it  must  have 
caused  him  to  love,  as  well  as  reverence  the 
Saviour,  when  he  observed  that  all  this  power 
was  exercised — not  to  injure  anyone,  not  even 
to  punish  those  who  abused  and  persecuted 
him  ;  but  that  he  went  about  doing  nothing  but 
good,  giving  health  and  strength  to  the  sick, 
feeding  the  hungry,  helping  the  poor,  and 
bringing  back  to  their  friends  those  whom 
they  wept  for  as  dead  ! 


STORM  ON  GENNESARET.  21 


THE  STORM  ON  GENNESARET. 

But  John  saw  even  more  than  this.  He 
and  the  other  apostles  were  one  afternoo 
crossing  over  the  lake  in  a  hoat.  After  thej- 
had  been  sailing  some  distance,  and,  perhaps, 
had  got  as  far  as  the  middle  of  the  lake,  where 
the  river  Jordan  flows  through  it  and  makes 
it  rough,  a  great  storm  arose.  The  waves 
were  so  high  that  they  broke  over  the  boat, 
and  nearly  filled  it  with  water.  The  disciples 
became  very  much  alarmed,  for  they  thought 
the  boat  would  sink,  and  they  should  all  be 
drowned. 

All  this  time  the  Lord  Jesus  was  lying 
asleep  in  the  back  part  of  the  boat.  The  dis- 
ciples did  not  disturb  him  until  they  became 
so  alarmed  that  they  knew  not  what  to  do. 
They  knew  that  he  could  save  them  from  the 
dang.er,  and  so  they  went  and  awoke  him, 
saying,  that  if  he  did  not  help  them  they  would 
certainly  perish.  When  the  Lord  awoke, 
and  saw  the  dreadful  storm,  and  the  boat  fill- 
ing with  water,  and  the  disciples  standing 
around  him,  he  was  as  composed  as  if  all  was 


22  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

quiet  and  safe.  Before  lie  got  up,  he  re- 
proved the  disciples  for  being  so  much  alarm- 
ed, when  they  ought  to  have  had  such  faith 
as  would  keep  them  from  fearing  any  danger 
when  their  Lord  was  with  them.  When 
he  had  said  this  he  arose,  and  looking  out 
upon  the  storm,  said,  "^e  still T^  The  mo- 
ment he  spoke  those  words,  the  wind  ceased 
to  blow,  the  water  became  quiet,  and  there 
was  a  great  calm.  Think  of  that  scene  !  Who 
but  God  could  have  such  power  over  the 
storm  !  Even  John,  and  the  other  disciples, 
though  they  had  seen  him  perform  so  many 
miracles  before,  were  astonished,  and  could 
not  help  whispering  to  each  other,  "  What 
manner  of  tnan  is  this  ?  for  he  commands 
even  the  winds  and  water,  and  they  obey 
hifuT^  Perhaps  some  young  reader  is  ready 
to  say — how  I  wish  I  had  lived  in  those  days  ! 
I  should  have  loved  to  follow  Christ,  and  be 
with  him,  and  should  have  been  one  of  his 
disciples.  Do  you  say  so  ?  Well,  let  me  tell 
you  good  news.  The  Lord  Jesus  is  still 
alive.  He  still  wants  to  have  disciples  ;  and 
he  is  willing  that  you  should  be  one.  Yes, 
more  than  this — he  invites  you  to  be  his  dis* 


STORM  ON  GENNESARET.  23 

ciple.  He  calls  to  you  as  he  called  to  John, 
*^  Follow  me.*^  He  says  now,  "  Whosoever 
will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and 
take  up  his  cross  and  follow  me."  Will  you 
come  now?  Are  you  ready,  like  John,  to  for- 
sake all  for  Christ?  ^^  Blessed  are  they  that 
have  not  seen  and  yet  have  believed.^'' 


24 


THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 


THE  TWO  GADARENES. 


After  the  wonderful  deliverance  which  has 
just  been  mentioned,  the  Lord  Jesus  and  his 
disciples  arrived  safely  on  the  eastern  shore 
of  Gennesaret,  and  landed  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  two  cities  of  Gadara  and  Ger- 

gesa.  The  first 
persons  who  met 
them  vv^ere  tv/o 
men,  who  were 
suffering  under 
tliat  dreadful  af- 
fliction called  the 
possession  of  de- 
vils. The  Lord 
showed  that  he 
had  power  not 
only  over  common  diseases,  and  over  the  wind 
and  the  seas,  but  that  even  evil  spirits  must 
obey  him.  At  his  command  the  devils  left  the 
two  men  whom  they  had  so  greatly  torment- 
ed ;  and  who  were  so  violent  that  every  one 
was  afraid  to  come  near  them.  One  of  them, 
in   particular,  was  made  so  fxorce  and  strong 


THE  TWO  GADARENES.  25 

by  the  evil  spirit,  that  though  his  friends  had 
often  tried  to  keep  him  confined  by  fasten- 
ing his  feet  and  hands  with  chains,  yet  he 
would  break  them  off,  and  escape  into  the 
mountains,  or  go  among  the  tombs,  making 
a  dreadful  noise,  and  cutting  his  body  with 
pieces  of  stone.  But  even  this  man,  who 
was  as  wild  and  savage  as  a  beast,  became,  at 
the  command  of  Jesus,  calm  and  harmless ; 
his  senses  were  restored,  and  he  did  not  want 
to  leave  Jesus,  but  begged  that  he  might  be 
permitted  to  go  with  him  wherever  he  went. 
And  when  the  Lord  told  him  he  had  better  go 
to  his  home,  and  let  his  friends  see  how  he 
was  restored  to  health  and  to  the  use  of  his 
reason,  he  went  not  only  to  them,  but  to  all 
the  neighbourhood,  telling,  with  joy  and 
thankfulness,  what  great  things  Jesus  had 
done  for  him. 

Soon  after  this  the  Lord  and  his  disciples 
crossed  the  lake  again  in  the  boat,  and  without 
any  accident  arrived  at  Capernaum, 


C 


26  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 


JAIRUS'S  CHILD. 

Although  John  is  not  particularly  named 
in  the  accounts  that  Ave  have  of  the  oc- 
currences last  mentioned,  yet  there  is  no 
doubt  he  was  along  with  the  other  disciples. 
They  show  what  sort  of  life  he  was  now 
leading,  and  how  Christ  was  training  his  dis- 
ciples to  be  witnesses  for  him,  by  letting  them 
see  his  mighty  works,  and  teaching  them  at 
the  same  time  the  great  truths  of  religion  by 
conversing  with  them,  and  letting  them  hear 
his  discourses  to  the  people,  wherever  he 
went.  What  a  blessed  privilege  !  What  a 
great  advantage,  some  may  say,  had  John  over 
us  !  But  first  remember  what  privileges  you 
have.  Instead  of  hearing  the  Lord  speak  and 
preach  from  day  to  day,  and  forgetting,  as  you 
would  do,  a  great  deal  of  what  he  said,  or 
making  mistakes  in  trying  to  remember  it,  you 
have  his  conversations  and  his  sermons  print- 
ed for  you  in  a  book.  There  they  are  pre- 
served without  mistake ;  for  the  Holy  Spirit 
directed  those  who  wrote  them  down,  and  kept 
them  from  error.     If  you  would  like,  then,  to 


JAIRUS  S    CHILD.  27 

know  what  Christ  said,  read  the  gospels. 
One  of  them  was  written  by  the  very  John 
whose  life  we  are  considering.  Surely  we 
ought  to  trust  the  account  that  is  given  to  us 
by  so  holy  a  man,  who  was  so  constantly 
with  Jesus,  and  saw  what  he  describes.  But 
when  we  consider  also  that  John  wrote  by 
the  direction  and  help  of  God,  we  ought  to 
believe  every  thing  that  he  records,  as  cer- 
tainly as  if  we  had  been  present  ourselves. 

But  having  given  this  specimen  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  apostles  accompanied  Christ 
in  his  journeys  and  voyages,  we  shall  hereafter 
only  describe  the  scenes  in  vi^hich  John  is  par- 
ticularly mentioned. 

There  was  a  man  at  Capernaum  whose 
name  was  Jairus.  He  seems  to  have  been  a 
very  respectable  person,  and  was  one  of  those 
who  were  intrusted  with  the  care  of  the  syna- 
gogue there.  Jairus  had  a  daughter,  about 
twelve  years  old,  whom  he  very  much  loved. 
This  little  girl  was  taken  sick,  and  became  so 
ill  that  her  father  thought  she  could  not  reco- 
ver. She  was  his  only  daughter,  and  was  at 
an  age  when  little  girls  should  be  making  the 
heaFts  of  their  parents  happy,  by  showing  that 


28  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

tliey  have  chosen  the  paths  of  religion.  Such 
daughters,  whether  they  are  in  high  or  humble 
stations  of  life,  are  blessings  to  tlieir  fathers  and 
mothers,  and  have  the  promise  of  the  bless- 
ing of  God. 

If  such  was  the  character  of  Jairus's  little 
girl,  it  is  no  wonder  her  father  was  greatly 
distressed  when  he  saw  her  so  dangerously  ill. 
Physicians  could  do  her  no  good,  and  he 
thought  his  only  daughter  was  soon  to  be 
taken  from  him.  But  he  remembered  the 
kind  man  who  had  lately  come  from  Naza- 
reth, who  had  preached  in  the  synagogue,  of 
which  Jairus  had  charge,  and  who  had  healed 
so  many  persons  of  dreadful  diseases.  Here 
was  his  last  hope.  If  he  could  only  get  this 
merciful  being  to  lay  his  hands  on  his  little 
daughter,  as  he  had  done  on  other  sick  per- 
sons, he  was  sure  his  darling  child  would  be 
restored  to  him. 

Jesus  was  that  day  at  the  house  of  the 
apostle  Matthew.  He  had  dined  there,  and 
was  speaking  on  religious  subjects  to  the  peo- 
ple who  were  at  the  table  with  him,  and  others 
who  had  come  into  the  room  to  see  and  hear 
him.     When  Jairus  heard  that  he  was  there, 


JAIRUS'S    CHILD.  29 

he  ran  to  Mattliew's  house,  and  coming  into 
the  room  where  Jesus  was,  he  knelt  down 
at  his  feet,  and  begged  him  most  earnestly  to 
come  and  cure  his  child. 

Oh!  how  earnestly  he  must  have  looked 
and  spoken !  His  only  child  dying — perhaps 
dead  since  he  had  left  home,  and  Jesus  the  only 
one  who  could  save  her !  If  parents  feel  this 
concern  for  their  children  when  they  are  in 
danger  of  dying  of  sickness,  how  should  they 
pray  and  beseech  the  Lord,  to  deliver  them 
from  the  danger  of  eternal  death! 

Jesus  did  not  disappoint  the  anxious  father, 
for  he  saw  that  he  was  in  earnest  and  that  he 
had  faith.  He  got  up  and  followed  Jairus, 
who  went  before  to  show  the  way  to  his 
house.  The  disciples  also  went  along  with 
Jesus,  and  all  the  people  who  were  in  Mat- 
thew's house  at  the  time  followed  them,  that 
they  might  see  what  Jesus  would  do.  The 
people  also  in  the  streets  joined  with  them, 
so  that  a  crowd  was  soon  collected  and  fol- 
lowed the  Lord. 

On  his  way,  Jesus  cured  a  poor  woman  of  a 
disease  under  which  she  had  suffered  for  twelve 
years.  And  as  he  was  telling  her  that  she 
c2 


30  THE   BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

had  been  healed  because  she  had  faith,  some 
persons  who  had  just  come  from  Jairus'  house 
met  them.  They  went  up  to  Jairus  and  told 
him  that  he  need  not  trouble  Jesus  to  go  any 
further  with  him,  for  it  was  too  late — his 
daughter  was  dead ! 

Poor  Jairus  !  how  sad  was  the  news  to 
him.  He  was  perhaps  beginning  to  think  if 
he  had  only  gone  for  Jesus  sooner,  his  child 
would  have  been  saved.  But  the  Lord  did  not 
give  him  time  for  such  distressing  thoughts, 
for  as  soon  as  he  learned  what  the  message 
was,  he  kindly  told  Jairus  not  to  be  afraid,  for 
that  if  he  would  only  have  faith,  his  child 
should  be  even  yet  restored  to  him.  Every 
thing  now  depended  on  the  father's  faith. 

At  length  they  came  to  the  house.  When 
they  reached  the  door,  Jesus  would  not  allow 
the  crowd  who  had  followed  him  from  Mat- 
thew's house  to  come  in.  They  had  come 
out  of  curiosity,  and  as  they  had  seen  his 
power  in  curing  the  woman  as  they  came 
along,  it  was  not  necessary  that  they  should 
press  into  Jairus'  house,  and  into  the  chamber 
where  his  daughter  lay  dead. 

Jesus  therefore  took  only  three  of  his  dis- 


JAIRUS'S    CHILD.  31 

ciples  in  with  him,  along  with  Jairus  and  his 
wife.  The  three  were  Peter,  John,  and  his 
brother  James.  In  the  house  were  a  num- 
ber of  persons  expressing  their  grief  in  the 
manner  which  was  then  common  when  a  per- 
son was  dead.  The  women  were  not  only 
weeping,  but  wailing  or  screaming  aloud,  and 
making  a  distressing  noise.  They  had  even, 
according  to  the  customs  of  the  time,  em- 
ployed musicians  who  made  mournful  music, 
and  sang  melancholy  tunes.  Alas,  how  little 
did  this  affect  the  lifeless  child  in  whose  ho- 
nour it  was  done  !  All  the  noise  did  not  dis- 
turb or  please  her.  There  she  lay,  stretched 
on  her  bed,  pale  and  motionless,  neitlier  hear- 
ing, nor  seeing,  nor  knowing  what  was  going 
on. 

Jesus  begged  the  people  to  stop  their  weep- 
ing, and  to  cease  the  singing  and  music. 
They  thought  it  as  strange  that  such  a  thing 
should  be  asked,  as  we  should,  if  a  person 
should  come  into  the  house  where  some  one 
had  just  died,  and  tell  the  family  not  to  show 
their  grief.  For  if  the  little  girl  was  dead, 
they  thought  the  customs  of  the  country  on 
such   occasions   should    be   observed.      But 


32  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

Jesus  gave  them  a  reason  for  his  request. 
He  told  them  that  the  child  was  not  dead— 
that  she  was  only  asleep.  This  was  more 
likely  to  stop  them  than  any  thing  else  he  could 
say.  But  they  did  not  understand  what  he 
meant,  for  they  knew  that  she  was  dead,  ac- 
cording to  their  meaning  of  the  word.  But 
not  knowing  what  he  meant,  they  answered 
him  with  scorn,  though  they  afterwards  saw 
that  Jesus  had  spoken  the  truth,  as  well  as 
themselves. 

Jesus  then  went  into  the  chamber  where 
the  little  girl  had  died,  taking  with  him  none 
but  her  father  and  mother,  John,  James,  and 
Peter.  How  anxious  must  Jairus  and  his 
wife  have  felt  now  !  Jesus  went  up  to  the 
bed  where  the  child  was  lying,  and  taking 
her  hand,  said  to  her.  Maiden,  Arise.  As 
soon  as  he  had  said  this,  the  little  girl  rose 
up  as  if  she  had  been  awakened  from  sleep, 
and  was  so  well  and  strong  that  she  at  once 
left  her  bed  and  was  able  to  walk. 

Who  can  imagine  the  happiness  of  Jairus 
and  his  wife,  when  they  once  more  kissed 
their  darling  child  whom  they  had  expected 
cO    follow   to  the  grave!    and  how   thankful 


JAIRUS'S    CIIILC.  'S3 

must  they  have  felt  to  the  kind  friend,  who 
liad  brought  their  daughter  back  from  death, 
to  life  and  health !  And  surely  we  may  hope 
that  the  first  thing  the  child  herself  did,  was 
to  inquire  who  her  Saviour  was ;  and  that 
when  she  learned  he  was  the  Son  of  God, 
who  had  come  not  only  to  raise  the  dead,  but 
to  give  repentance  and  remission  of  sins 
through  faith  in  him,  she  became  a  Christian  ; 
and  that  when  at  last  she  died,  it  was  in  the 
joyful  belief,  that  he  who  had  raised  her  from 
death  would  receive  her  to  himself,  so  that 
death  would  still  be  no  more  than  going  to 
sleep  in  this  world  and  awaking  in  heaven. 

And  do  any  young  readers  think  that  this 
was  a  greater  privilege  than  they  shall  ever 
have  ?  Would  they  not  like  to  ask  some  one 
who  saw  all  that  took  place  at  the  house 
of  Jairus,  if  he  thought  Christ  would  be  as 
kind  to  any  daughter  that  would  love  him  ? 
If  they  choose,  they  shall  have  this  question 
answered.  John  himself  will  tell  them,  that 
if  they  will  become  true  Christians,  they  shall 
not  only  be  raised  up  from  their  graves  to  be 
for  ever  with  the  Lord,  but  that  they  shall 
never  die, — that  is,  death  will  have  nothing 


34  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

fearful  in  it  for  them  ;  and  if  their  bodies  die, 
their  souls  shall  live  for  ever  and  ever.  Yes, 
the  apostle  John  tells  them  this  in  his  gospel, 
where  he  has  written  these  words  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  himself : — /  am  the  resurrection  and 
the  life ;  he  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he 
were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live  ;  and  whosoever 
liveih  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die.     i 


THE    NIGHT    IN  THE    MOUNTAIN. 


35 


THE  NIGHT  IN  THE  MOUNTAIN. 


The  next  time  that  we  hear  of  John,  after 
Jairus's  daughter  had  been  brought  to  life, 
was  at  a  still  more  interesting  and  wonderful 
scene. 

The  Lord  Jesus  took  him  with  his  brother 
James,  and  Peter,  into  one  of  the  high  moun- 
tains of  Galilee.     Jesus  loved  to  pray ;  and 


^'%. 
^^^ 


Tiberias*, 


Mt-  Taoor 


he  was  in  the  habit  of  going  for  this  purpose 
into  quiet  places,  where  there  was  no  danger 
of  being  interrupted.  He  seemed  to  love  to 
retire  to  the  hills  and  mountains,  especially 
at  night,  and  there  speak  in  prayer  with  his 
Father  in  heaven.     What  an  example  is  this 


36  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

to  US  !  The  holy  Jesus  delighted  to  spend  the 
whole  night  in  this  manner.  How  ashamed 
should  this  make  us  feel,  who  have  so  much 
greater  need  of  prayer,  and  yet  spend  so  little 
time  in  it,  and  find  so  little  happiness  in  the 
duty. 

It  was  evening  when  the  Lord,  with  John 
and  the  two  other  disciples,  went  to  the 
mountain.  When  they  had  got  some  dis- 
tance up,  and  perhaps  to  the  very  top,  the 
disciples  were  very  tired,  and  lying  down  on 
the  ground,  fell  asleep.  But  Jesus  would 
rather  spend  the  time  in  prayer.  He  knew 
that  he  had  a  great  work  to  do  before  he 
left  the  earth,  and  as  he  had  become  a  man 
for  the  purpose  of  performing  this  work,  it 
was  proper  for  him  to  look  up  to  his  Father 
to  enable  him  to  perform  it  well. 

The  three  disciples  had  been  sleeping  for 
some  time,  when  they  were  suddenly  awak- 
ened, probably  by  a  great  light  all  at  once 
shining  around  them  in  the  darkness  of  the 
night.  When  they  opened  their  eyes  they 
saw  the  Lord  still  praying,  but  every  thing 
about  him  seemed  changed.  His  face  was 
so  bright  that  it  appeared  to  shine  like  the 


THE    NIGHT    IN    THE    MOUNTAIN.  37 

sun.  His  very  clothes,  which  were  made  of 
nothing  more  than  common  materials,  looked 
white  and  dazzling  as  the  snow.  He  was 
surrounded  with  this  glory,  which  was  too 
splendid  to  be  described,  and  which  filled  the 
disciples  with  wonder.  For  though  they  had 
often  seen  him  do  the  works  of  God,  they  had 
never  before  beheld  any  thing  in  his  appear- 
ance that  was  so  different  from  what  had  ever 
been  seen  on  earth.  It  was  indeed,  as  John 
said  of  it  when  he  became  an  old  man,  the 
glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father.-'' 
But  this  was  not  all.  They  observed  two 
men  talking  with  Jesus.  They  were  none  of 
the  other  disciples  ;  neither  John  nor  his  com- 
panions had  seen  them  before,  and  they  too 
had  a  glorious  appearance,  which  was  not  like 
any  thing  that  is  seen  among  men.  They 
were  still  more  astonished  and  filled  with 
dread,  when  they  found  that  one  of  the  men 
was  Moses,  and  the  other  Elijah.  Moses 
had  been  dead  nearly  fifteen  hundred  years. 
He  had  died  on  Mount  Nebo,  opposite  the 
city  of  Jericho,  about  sixty  miles  from  the 
place  where  they  now  were.     Elijah  had  not 

*  John  i.  14. 
D 


38 


TPIE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 


(-'apernaum 


Mt.  Tabor        ^Ss  ^  Sf 


Bethel  O 


Jericho* 


Jerusalem  v}]^ 


died ;  but  upwards  of  nine  hundred  years  be 
fore  this,  lie  had  been  taken  to  heaven  from 
the  banks  of  the  Jordan  opposite  to  Jericho. 

Two  more 
wonderful  per- 
sons could  not 
have  appeared. 
Moses  was  tlie 
man  to  whom 
God  g-ave  the 
laws  which 
had  ever  since 
governed  the 
Jewish  people. 
He  was  sent  by 
God  to  bring 
hispeoplefrom 
their  slavery  in 
Egypt,  and  for  forty  years  he  led  them  through 
the  wilderness,  though  they  amounted  to  seve- 
ral millions. 

At  the  end  of  that  period  having  conducted 
them  to  the  east  side  of  Jordan,  he  died  in 
view  of  the  country,  and  it  is  said  that  "  God 
buried  him"  in  the  mountain  where  he 
died. 


THE    NIGHT    IN    THE    MOUNTAIN.  39 

Elijah  had  been  one  of  the  greatest  pro- 
phets that  was  ever  in  the  world.  The  Lord 
enabled  him,  as  he  had  Moses,  to  perform 
many  miracles,  and  had  taken  him  to  himself 
without  dying. 

When  the  disciples  found  themselves  in 
the  presence  of  two  such  men,  of  w^hom  they 
had  so  often  read  in  the  Scriptures,  but  whom 
they  never  had  expected  to  see  till  they  met 
them  in  heaven,  it  is  no  wor.der  they  were 
overcome  with  surprise  and  .'inew  not  what 
to  do.  The  sudden  appearanc?  of  such  glory, 
too,  must  have  dazzled  them,  and  besides  all 
this  they  heard  Moses  and  Elijah  talking  to 
Jesus  about  his  death.  This  was  enough  of 
itself  to  fill  them  with  anxiety  and  alarm. 
They  indeed  knew  not  what  to  say  or  do. 
But  at  last,  when  they  saw  that  Moses  and 
Elijah  were  going  away,  Peter  begged  that 
the  Lord  would  permit  him  and  the  other  dis- 
ciples to  put  up  three  tents  or  huts,  one  for 
the  Lord,  one  for  Moses,  and  one  for  Elijah, 
that  they  might  stay  in  the  mountain  and  be 
together.  But  Peter  could  not  have  thought 
of  what  he  was  saying ;  for  those  who  have 
once  quitted  the  earth  and  gone  to  heaven, 


40  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

need  no  tents  or  houses  to  shelter  them,  and 
it  was  not  probable  that  such  a  glorious  scene 
would  last.  But  the  great  lawgiver  and  the 
prophet  had  gone  away  before  Peter  had  time 
to  do  what  he  proposed. 

He  had  not  time,  indeed,  to  think  of  it  any 
longer  himself.  For  whilst  he  was  speaking, 
new  occurrences  took  place  which  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  three  disciples.  They 
now  observed  a  bright  cloud  cominor  over 
and  surrounding  them.  Whilst  they  were 
looking  with  awe  at  this  sight,  they  heard  a 
voice  speaking  to  them  out  of  the  cloud,  and 
saying  distinctly — This  is  my  beloved  Son, 

IN  whom  I  AM  well  PLEASED  ;  HEAR  YE  HIM. 

The  disciples  knew  who  spoke  these  words. 
They  must  have  remembered  that  when  Jeho- 
vah led  their  fathers,  many  hundred  years 
before,  through  the  wilderness,  he  caused  a 
cloud  to  go  before  them  which  was  dark  in 
the  day-time,  and  bright  by  night.  They 
must  have  recollected  also,  that  when  God 
spoke  to  Moses  or  to  the  priests,  it  was  gene- 
rally from  the  midst  of  an  appearance  like  a 
bright  and  glorious  cloud.  Yes,  they  knew 
who    he    was  that   spoke,  for   Peter    after- 


THE    NIGHT    IN    THE    MOUNTAIN.  41 

wards  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote,  said,  "  We 
were  eye-witnesses  of  his  majesty :  for  he 
received  from  God  the  Father  honour  and 
glory,  when  there  came  such  a  voice  to  him 
from  the  excellent  glory,  This  is  my  be- 
loved Son,  in  lohom  I  am  well  pleased.  And 
this  voice,  which  came  from  heaven,  we  heard 
when  we  were  with  him  in  the  holy  mount."  - 

If  John  and  the  two  other  disciples  were 
astonished  and  filled  with  awe  when  they  saw 
Moses  and  Elijah,  how  much  more  dreadful 
must  they  have  felt,  when  they  heard  the 
voice  of  God  himself,  speaking  out  of  the  glo- 
rious cloud  !  They  had  been  able  before  to 
look  at  what  was  passing  and  even  to  speak 
to  the  Lord,  but  when  this  voice  came,  they 
fell  on  their  faces  and  were  afraid  to  look  up. 
They  must  have  felt  as  Jacob  did  at  Bethel, 
after  he  had  seen  the  Lord  in  a  vision,  when 
awaking  he  exclaimed,  "  Surely  the  Lord  is 
in  this  place  and  I  knew  it  not.  How  dread- 
ful is  this  place  !  this  is  none  other  but  the 
house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven  !"t 

Oh,  how  should  we  feel  if  we  were  suddenly 
to  find  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  the  holy 

*  2  Pet.  ii.  16,  17.         f  Gen.  xxviii.  IG,  17. 
d2 


42  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

God  !  We  should  think  that  he  knew  all  our 
sinfulness,  and  could  not  venture  to  look  up 
to  him,  lest  he  should  destroy  us  for  our 
wickedness. 

But  the  Lord  is  as  near  us  as  if  we  heard 
him  speak,  and  saw  some  token  of  his  pre- 
sence. He  knows  our  sins  as  well  as  if  we 
had  seen  him  when  we  committed  them. 
Who  then  will  not  be  afraid  to  provoke  God? 
And  who  will  not  rejoice,  that  though  we  dare 
not  come  alone  into  his  presence,  he  has  sent 
his  Son  into  the  world,  that  by  him  we  might 
be  able  to  approach  and  find  mercy. 

Yes,  Christ  is  ready  to  act  for  humble  and 
penitent  sinners,  just  as  he  did  for  the  three 
disciples.  For  when  they  were  lying  on 
their  faces  in  great  fear,  he  came  up  to  them, 
and  kindly  put  his  hands  on  them,  and  told 
them  not  to  be  afraid,  but  to  rise  up. 

W^hen  they  heard  the  well-known  voice  of 
their  Lord,  the  disciples  ventured  to  look  up, 
and  to  rise  from  the  ground.  Moses  was 
gone,  and  Elijah  was  gone,  and  the  bright 
cloud  was  not  to  be  seen,  and  Jesus  appeared 
as  he  usually  did,  without  any  of  the  bright- 
ness that  had  shone  around  him  before.    They 


THE    NIGHT    IX    THE    MOUNTAIN.  43 

became  composed,  when  they  found  them' 
selves  once  more  alone  with  their  beloved 
Master,  and  as  they  came  down  from  the  moun- 
tain the  next  morning,  they  asked  him  to  ex- 
plain some  things  that  were  written  in  the  Old  . 
Testament,  which  he  did. 


44  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 


JOHN'S  MISTAKES, 

John  was  so  constantly  with  the  Lord,  and 
was  so  much  honoured  with  his  friendship, 
that  we  should  suppose  he  would  have  been  at 
all  times  meek,  and  merciful,  and  humble,  like 
his  Master.  But  if  the  Holy  Spirit  does  not 
constantly  dwell  in  the  heart,  the  best  of  men 
will  do  wrong.  Sometimes  it  seems  as  if 
God  did  leave  good  men  alone  for  a  little  time, 
that  they  may  find  how  helpless  they  are 
without  him.  Just  as  you  sometimes  see  a 
kind  father  or  mother  leave  a  little  child  that 
is  not  old  enough  to  walk,  standing  alone  a 
few  minutes  till  it  finds  that  it  will  fall  if  its 
parent  does  not  come  to  it.  Even  John  stood 
in  need  of  continual  care,  to  keep  him  from 
being  angry  and  proud.  Two  or  three  things 
took  place  in  his  life  which  show  this ;  but 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  they  were 
very  diiferent  from  his  usual  conduct,  and  that 
as  he  grew  older  and  learned  more,  he  became 
more  and  more  like  his  Divine  Master. 

It  was  some  time  after  that  night  which 
John  spent  in  the  mountain,  when  he  saw 


John's  mistakes. 


45 


?.t 


Mt.  Tabor 


Moses  and  Elijah  and  heard  the  voice  of  God, 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  left  Galilee  to  go  to  Jeru- 
salem. John  and  the  eleven  other  disciples 
were  with  him. 
When  they 
came  to  the 
country  of  Sa- 
maria, no  one 
would  receive 
them  into  their 
houses,orshow 
them  any  kind- 
ness. The  rea- 
son of  this  was 
that  the  peo- 
ple of  Samaria 
and  the  Jews 
disliked    each 


S  ^       SAMARIA 

§\     Samaria  O 

0  Sychar 


0 

Jerusalem 


other ;  and  they  carried  this  sinful  feeling  so 
far,  that  they  would  have  no  dealings  of  any 
kind  together,  if  they  could  help  it.  The 
Lord  Jesus  was  too  holy  and  benevolent  to 
hate  any  one,  and  he  was  ready  at  all  times 
to  do  good  to  his  enemies.  But  when  the 
Samaritans  found  that  thirteen  Jews  wanted 


46  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

to  pass  through  their  village,  they  remembered 
how  badly  they  were  often  treated  by  people 
of  that  nation,  and  instead  of  returning  good 
for  evil,  they  would  do  nothing  for  them. 
John  and  his  brother  James  became  angry 
when  they  found  the  people  so  unkind  ;  and 
remembering  that  Elijah  in  this  very  country 
had  called  for  fire  from  heaven  to  destroy  an 
hundred  and  two  men,  they  asked  the  Lord 
if  they  might  not  punish  these  Samaritans  in 
the  same  way.  But  the  Lord  had  a  very  dif- 
ferent disposition  towards  his  enemies,  and 
instead  of  being  pleased  with  John  and  James 
for  what  they  had  said,  he  reproved  them  ; 
telling  them  that  they  had  a  very  wrong  spirit 
towards  the  Samaritans,  and  that  he  had  not 
come  to  destroy  men,  but  to  save  them. 

It  is  probable  that  this  reproof  was  remem- 
bered by  John,  and  that  it  did  liim  good. 
This  is  the  way  in  which  all  wise  persons 
receive  good  advice.  John  soon  discovered 
that,  if  any  one  would  be  holy  and  righteous, 
he  must  love  all  men.  As  he  afterwards  said 
in  a  letter  himself, — "  If  a  man  say,  I  love 
God,  and  hateth  his  brother,  he  is  a  liar;  for  he 


John's  mistakes.  47 

that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath 
seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath 
not  seen?"* 

At  another  time  Salome,  John's  mother 
came  with  him  and  his  brother  James  to  the 
Lord,  to  beg  him  to  give  her  sons  some  very 
gi*eat  honour  in  his  kingdom.  Salome  was  a 
pious  woman,  but  even  the  friends  and  disci- 
ples of  Christ  did  not  fully  understand  the 
gospel,  nor  how  Jesus  was  to  be  their  Sa- 
viour, until  after  his  death  and  return  to  hea- 
ven. Not  only  she,  but  John  and  James 
also,  as  well  as  many  other  good  Jews,  seem- 
ed to  think  that  Christ  would  be  a  king  at 
Jerusalem,  and  that  the  Jews  would  become 
as  great  and  powerful  a  nation  as  they  were 
in  the  times  of  David  and  Solomon.  As  John 
and  James  had  been  among  the  first  disciples 
that  were  chosen,  and  as  Christ  had  taken 
none  but  tliem  and  Peter  with  him  on  some 
important  occasions,  Salome  and  her  sons 
appear  to  have  thought  that  they  might  ex- 
pect some  great  honour  when  the  kingdom 
should  be  established.  For  not  only  the  mo- 
ther, but  her  two  sons,  asked  Jesus  that  one 

*  1  John  iv.  20. 


48  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

of  them  might  be  on  his  right  hand,  and  the 
other  on  his  left,  when,  instead  of  wander- 
ing about  the  land  without  a  home,  he  should 
sit  on  his  royal  throne  in  the  great  city  of 
Jerusalem. 

But  when  they  had  said  this,  the  Lord  told 
them  they  knew  not  what  they  were  asking. 
He  then  intimated,  that  instead  of  going  to 
Jerusalem  to  become  a  splendid  king,  he  was 
about  to  pass  through  great  suffering ;  and 
that,  though  they  too  might  have  to  sufler  for 
liis  sake,  they  and  all  his  followers  must  not 
expect  to  be  rewarded,  until  God  should  give 
them  a  place  in  heaven. 

When  the  other  apostles  heard  what  John 
and  James  and  their  mother  had  done,  they 
were  offended  with  them.  But  Jesus  called 
them  all  together,  and  told  them  that  though 
in  this  world  kings  had  great  power  and  au 
thority,  and  appointed  men  to  high  offices, 
yet  it  was  very  different  in  his  kingdom. 
As  his  desire  was  to  make  men  better  and  fit 
for  heaven,  it  was  no  matter  whether  they 
had  power  on  earth  or  not ;  or  whether  they 
were  rich  or  poor :  but  that  all  true  Chris- 
tians should  be  humble  ;    and  not  be  seeking 


John's  mistakes.  49 

places  of  distinction.  The  best  way  to  be 
accepted  of  God  is  to  be  lowly :  knowing 
that  it  is  God  who  makes  us  pious  and  useful, 
if  we  are  such,  and  that  therefore  we  have  no 
reason  to  be  proud.  As  he  had  told  the  dis- 
ciples before,  whosoever  exalteth  himself 
shall  be  abased  ;  and  he  that  humbleth  him- 
self shall  be  exalted.  Jesus  ended  by  telling 
them  that  he  had  not  come  into  the  world  to  be 
waited  upon  like  a  prince,  but  to  serve  others, 
and  even  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many. 

The  Lord  had  another  opportunity  of  teach- 
ing his  disciples  not  to  think  too  highly  of 
themselves.  They  happened  to  see  some 
one  curing  a  person  of  a  dreadful  disease  by 
a  miracle.  The  man  who  had  performed  it 
was  not  one  of  the  apostles,  but  he  had  done 
it  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  not 
pretending  that  it  was  by  his  own  power. 
When  the  apostles  saw  this,  and  found  that 
they  did  not  know  the  man,  they  forbade  him 
to  do  such  things,  supposing  that  they  only 
had  the  right  to  act  in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

John  gave  an  account  of  this  to  Jesus. 
Perhaps  it  was  to  know  whether  they  had 
done  right.  Btit  .Tesus  told  him  that  they 
E 


60  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

should  not  have  prevented  the  man  from  per- 
forming miracles  in  his  name,  for  if  God  en- 
abled him  to  do  such  works,  it  was  a  proof 
that  he  was  a  friend  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Thus  we  see  that  John  was  not  only  dis- 
tinguished by  the  confidence  and  affection 
of  the  Saviour,  but  that  he  was  reproved 
when  he  did  wrong,  and  instructed  when 
he  acted  from  ignorance.  And  so  it  is  still 
with  the  people  of  God.  He  is  their  pre- 
server and  protector ;  they  are  adopted,  for 
Christ's  sake,  as  his  children,  and  like  a  fa- 
ther he  loves  and  pities  them.  But,  like  a 
good  father,  he  also  corrects  them  when  they 
sin,  that  they  may  be  put  in  mind  of  their 
duty  to  him,  and  become  partakers  of  his  ho- 
liness. He  gives  them  his  word  of  truth  to 
admonish  them  of  their  duty,  and  to  teach 
them  what  they  ought  to  believe  and  do. 
And  he  is  the  happiest  and  best  follower  of 
Christ,  who,  with  the  humility  of  a  little  child, 
sits,  as  it  were,  at  his  feet  to  learn  of  Him. 
For  this  purpose  he  reads  the  Bible  ;  believes 
it  because  it  is  the  word  of  God ;  and  obeys 
it  because  he  loves  to  do  his  will. 


THE    TEMPLE. 


61 


THE  TEMPLE, 

After  this  we  hear  of  no  more  mistakes 
of  John  ;  nor  do  we  know  that  he  again  gave 
occasion  to  his  beloved  Master  to  reprove 
him.  He,  with  Peter  and  James,  were  cho- 
sen to  be  with  him  in  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant scenes  of  the  rest  of  his  life. 

The  Jews  were  in  the  habit  of  frequently 
going  to  the  Temple  in  Jerusalem,  to  see  the 
sacrifices,  or  pray,  and  for  other  religious  pur- 
poses ;  and  even  to  see  each  other  on  com- 
mon business.  It  was  open  every  day,  and 
there  were  so  many  large  enclosures,  or 
courts,  as  they  were  called,  that  thousands 
of  people  could  easily  be  collected  in  them 

without  inconve- 
nience. The  Lord 
Jesus  often  went 
into  these  courts 
and  porches,  to 
converse  with  the 
people ;  and  some- 
times large  num- 
bers would  gather 
around  him  to  hear 


52  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

him  speak,  or  to  dispute  with  him.  Some- 
times he  would  tell  the  people  a  parable,  to 
instruct  them  in  some  duty.  At  others  he 
would  openly  reprove  them  for  their  sins, 
and  teach  the  necessity  of  repentance.  The 
people  were  generally  very  anxious  to  hear 
him ;  some  out  of  curiosity ;  some  because 
he  told  them  such  beautiful  parables  ;  a  few 
because  they  wished  to  hear  and  obey  the 
gospel.  Often  the  worst  persons  of  the 
crowd  who  listened  to  him,  and  who  should 
have  been  the  most  anxious  to  hear  how  they 
might  be  saved,  became  angry  because  Jesus 
told  them  the  truth. 

One  day  he  had  been  spending  some  time 
in  the  temple  in  this  manner,  and  as  he  was 
coming  away,  his  disciples  began  to  talk 
about  the  beauty  of  the  place.  They  re- 
marked what  a  splendid  building  it  was,  and 
of  what  immense  size  the  blocks  of  marble 
were  of  which  the  walls  were  made,  some 
of  them  being  seventy  feet  long.  The  tem- 
ple stood  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  and  to  support 
it  there  were  marble  walls  on  every  side 
covering  the  hill,  one  of  which  was  six  hun- 
dred  feet   high.     Around  the   temple   were 


THE  TEMPLE,  S3 

long  porticoes  supported  by  double  rows,  and 
on  one  side  by  three  rows,  of  high  pillars. 
Many  parts  of  it  were  covered  with  gold, 
which  shone  with  great  splendour  in  the  sun. 
As  the  disciples  talked  of  these  strong  and 
magnificent  buildings,  Jesus  told  them  that 
the  day  would  come  when  they  should  be  so 
entirely  destroyed,  that  there  should  not  be 
left  one  stone  upon  another. 

This  must  have  astonished  the  disciples  ; 
but  none  of  them  ventured  just  then  to  ask 
him  any  further  questions  about  it.  But  after 
they  left  the  temple,  Jesus  went  to  a  beau- 
tiful hill  that  was  opposite  to  it,  called  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  or  Mount  Olivet.  John 
came  to  the  Lord  whilst  he  sat  on  this  mount, 
and  with  him  came  his  brother  James,  Simon 
Peter,  and  Andrew,  Peter's  brother,  all  of 
whom  Jesus  had  called  at  the  same  time,  from 
their  boats  on  the  lake. 

From  the  top  of  the  mount  they  could  see 
the  whole  of  the  temple  and  its  various  build- 
ings, and  John  and  his  companions  begged 
the  Lord  to  tell  them  when  they  should  be 
destroyed.     They  seemed  to  think  that  when 

£'2 


54 


THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 


this  took  place, 
Christ  would  beffin 
his  new  kingdom 
in  some  such  way 
as  they  had  before 
imagined.  It  was 
in  answer  to  this 
question  that  Jesus 
made  one  of  the 
most  important  and 
^<5  solemn  prophecies 
that  are  recorded 
in  the  Bible.  He 
told  those  four 
men  exactly  what 
should  happen  after  his  death.  He  men- 
tioned that  impostors  should  pretend  to  be  the 
Messiah  ;  that  wars  and  great  troubles  shbuhl 
prevail ;  that  the  apostles  themselves  should 
be  persecuted,  imprisoned,  and  killed  ;  that 
Christians  should  be  so  much  hated,  that  even 
fathers  would  give  up  their  children,  and  child- 
ren their  parents,  to  be  put  to  death  for  be- 
lieving in  Christ.  He  then  described  the 
distress  that  should  come  upon  Jerusalem  ;  it 
would  be  taken  by  their  enemies,  and  the  in- 


THE  TEMPLE.  59 

habitants  killed  or  taken  away  as  slaves.  All 
which  things  took  place  forty  years  afterwards, 
just  as  Christ  had  predicted. 

If  these  disciples  were  expecting  that  Christ 
was  going  to  tell  them  he  would  be  king  at 
Jerusalem,  and  that  the  temple  and  all  its 
riches  would  belong  to  him  and  his  disciples, 
how  astonished  must  they  have  been  to  hear 
what  was  really  coming  to  pass  !  The  glorious 
temple  and  the  city  itself  were  to  be  destroyed , 
and  these  apostles,  instead  of  becoming  great 
men  in  the  world,  were  to  be  hated  by  all 
men  for  the  sake  of  Jesus,  and  should  be  beat- 
en and  imprisoned,  and  most  of  them  put  to 
death.  But  this  did  not  shake  their  love  to 
Christ,  or  their  confidence  in  him.  They 
continued  with  him,  though  they  found  every 
day  that  their  master,  instead  of  being  ho- 
noured by  the  people  as  their  desired  Mes- 
siah, was  more  and  more  despised  and  perse- 
cuted. "  He  was  in  the  ivorldy^^  said  John, 
*'  and  the  world  was  made  by  him,  and  the 
world  knew  him  not.  He  came  unto  his  own, 
and  his  oivn  received  him  not.^^* 

*  Johni.  10,  11. 


56 


THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 


It  was  now  nearly  three  years,  or,  as  some 
think,  four  or  five  years,  since  John  had  left 
his  fishing  boat  and  his  father's  house,  to  be- 
come a  disciple  and  follower  of  Jesus  of  Na- 
zareth. All  this  time  he  had  accompanied 
the  Lord  wherever  he  went  in  Judea,  Sama- 
ria, and  Galilee,  and  the  neighbouring  regions. 


3      5^ 


^Gergrra 

i'^K.  Tabu.  ^.,x    '""'«''fe|p/»M'gdab 


•Ga(;ara 


A        M        A         R        1 
y  a  maris  0 

Sychan 


^Belliany 
^^Mt.  Olivet        ^\^ 


Bethlehem*  feOn 


He  saw  his  miracles,  and  heard  the  parables, 
sermons,  and  discourses  which  lie  spoke  to 
the  people  day  after  day.  Besides  this,  he  and 


THE  TEMPLE.  57 

the  other  apostles  had  the  advantage  of  being 
with  him  by  themselves,  and  hearing  him  ex- 
plain whatever  they  could  not  understand,  or 
that  Jesus  did  not  see  fit  to  tell  to  all  the  peo- 
ple. They  were  therefore  constantly  increas- 
ing in  their  knowledge  of  the  religion  they 
were  soon  to  preach.  But  they  did  not  yet  know 
what  was  to  be  the  great  fact  which  they  were 
to  preach.  That  their  beloved  Lord  was  not 
only  to  be  put  to  death  on  a  cross,  but  that 
they  were  to  go  to  all  parts  of  the  world  to 
declare  this  as  the  only  way  by  which  sins 
could  be  pardoned,  was  as  yet  very  far  from 
their  thoughts. 

But  they  were  soon  to  be  taught  this  ;  for 
the  time  had  nearly  come,  to  which  Christ  had 
been  looking  forward,  when  he  was  to  give  his 
life  a  ransom  for  many.  John  was  with  him 
constantly,  and  at  this  time  he  seems  to  have 
been  first  called  The  Beloved  Disciple,  on 
account  of  the  particular  kindness  which  was 
shown  to  him  by  the  Lord  in  the  closing 
weeks  of  his  life. 


58  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 


THE  LAST  PASSOVER. 

The  Jews,  or  Israelites,  as  they  were  then 
called,  once  lived  in  Egypt.  They  were 
treated  with  so  much  cruelty  that  the  Lord 
sent  Moses  to  bring  them  away,  and  lead  them 
into  the  land  of  Canaan.  That  was  the  old 
name  of  the  country  in  which  all  the  events 
took  place  that  we  have  been  describing.  The 
king  of  Egypt  would  not  allow  the  Israelites 
to  leave  his  country,  although  Moses  had 
proved  that  God  had  sent  for  them,  by  per- 
forming great  miracles  before  him.  To  punish 
the  king,  and  to  compel  him  to  let  the  people 
go,  God  sent  dreadful  afflictions  upon  him  and 
his  nation.  But  yet  the  king  would  not  per- 
mit them  to  leave  Egypt.  At  last  God  caused 
the  oldest  child  in  every  house  of  the  Egypt- 
ians, and  the  first-born  of  all  their  cattle,  to 
die  on  the  same  night.  But  none  of  the  child- 
ren or  cattle  of  the  Israelites  died.  When 
this  took  place,  the  king  consented  to  let  them 
go,  lest  God  should  destroy  his  whole  nation. 
And  thus  the  Israelites  escaped  out  of  the 
cruel   slavery  in  which   they  were   kept  in 


THE  LAST  PASSOVEK. 


59 


Egypt,  and  set  off  on  their  journey  to  the  de- 
lightful land  of  Canaan,  which  was  to  be  their 
own. 


Nazareth 


MEDITERRAN    T.  a  N  ^  ^ 


OK     GREATSEA 


But  God  did  not  wish  them  to  forget  that 
they  had  once  been  a  poor  and  oppressed 
people,  and  that  he  had  in  great  mercy  deli- 
vered them  from  their  bondage.  So  he  com- 
manded them  every  year,  on  the  same  night 
on  which  they  had  left  Egypt,  to  eat  a  supper 


60  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

in  their  houses  in  such  a  way  as  would  re- 
mind them  of  what  had  taken  place,  and  make 
them  thankful  to  God  for  his  goodness. 
Whenever  this  supper  was  eaten,  they  were 
to  explain  its  intention  to  their  children,  so 
that  the  history  should  never  be  forgotten. 

This  supper  was  called  the  feast  of  unlea- 
vened breads  because  the  bread  they  ate  at 
that  time  had  no  leaven  or  yest  in  it,  to  put 
them  in  mind  that  when  they  left  Egypt  they 
came  in  such  haste  that  they  could  not  wait  for 
their  dough  to  rise.  It  was  also  called  the 
PASSOVER ;  because  whilst  there  was  a  death 
in  every  house  of  the  Egyptians,  the  houses 
of  the  Israelites  were  passed  over,  or  not  visit- 
ed by  death. 

When  the  Lord  Jesus  was  upon  earth, 
the  Jews  had  kept  the  passover,  with  some 
exceptions,  for  nearly  fifteen  hundred  years. 
As  all  the  ceremonies  of  the  Jews  were  to  be 
observed  until  after  his  death,  Jesus  probably 
kept  the  passover  with  the  apostles  as  his 
family,  every  year  after  he  had  called  them. 

He  was  now  going  to  be  with  them  at  this 
feast  for  the  last  time.  He  knew  that  as 
soon  as  it  was  over,  he  should  be  put  to  death. 


s      THE    LAST    PASSOVER.  61 

and  as  it  would  be  the  last  occasion  in  which 
he  could  talk  with  them  before  he  died, 
he  took  care  that  every  thing  should  be  pre- 
pared for  the  passover-night. 

It  was  on  Thursday,  the  second  of  April, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  33,  that  this  last  pass- 
over  took  place. '^  The  killing  and  eating  of 
the  paschal  lamb  was  always  done  on  the  first 
night  of  the  passover-week,  and  the  rest  of  the 
week  was  observed  by  eating  no  bread  that 
had  leaven  in  it.  On  the  morning  of  the  first 
day  of  the  passover-week,  Jesus  sent  John  and 
Peter  to  Jerusalem  to  get  every  thing  ready 
that  he  might  eat  the  supper  with  his  apostles. 
He  himself  remained  in  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
and  perhaps  spent  the  day  in  prayer.  The 
two  disciples  did  not  know  where  to  go  to 
engage  a  room,  and  to  bespeak  the  articles 
necessary  for  the  supper.  But  Jesus,  who 
knew  every  thing  before  it  happened,  as  well 
as  all  that  did  happen,  told  them  that  soon  after 
entering  the  city  they  should  meet  a  man  car- 
rying a  pitcher   of  water ;  they  must  follow 

*  The  length  of  the  Lord's  ministry,  and  other  dates 
in  this  history,  cannot  be  exactly  ascertained  ;  bnt  those 
most  commonly  fixed  on  by  approved  authors  are 
adopted  in  this  volume. 

F 


62  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

him   till  they  saw  him  go  into  a  house,  and 
going  in  after  him,  were  to  tell  the  person  who 
lived  there,  that  Jesus  and  his  twelve  disciples 
were  coming  that  night  to  eat  the  passover  at 
his  house. 

John  and  Peter  did  as  they  were  directed, 
and  every  tiling  took  place  as  the  Lord  had 
said.  They  met  a  man  with  a  pitcher  of  water, 
which  he  had  probably  just  filled  at  a  well  in 
the  neighbourhood,  and  they  followed  him  to 
the  house  where  he  carried  it.  They  deli- 
vered the  Lord's  message  to  the  master  of  the 
house.  Perhaps  he  was  a  Christian,  and  was 
delighted  with  the  privilege  of  having  the 
Lord  and  his  disciples  at  his  house.  But  this 
we  do  not  know.  However,  he  showed  them 
a  room  in  the  upper  story  of  his  house,  which 
w^as  large  enough  for  the  thirteen  persons  vvho 
were  to  come,  and  which  had  a  table  and 
other  furniture  necessary  for  tlie  purpose.  All 
this  Jesus  had  exactly  told  John  and  Peter 
they  should  find. 

Having  engaged  the  room,  the  two  disci- 
ples gave  directions  for  every  thing  that  was 
necessary.  A  whole  lamb  must  be  brought 
and   killed   by  the  priests   at  the  temple  :  it 


THE    LAST    PASSOVER.  63 

had  then  to  be  roasted,  and  a  sauce  of  bitter 
herbs  made  to  be  eaten  with  it ;  unleavened 
bread  and  some  wine  were  also  to  be  ready. 

John  and  Peter  having  attended  to  all  these 
things,  when  the  evening  came,  Jesus  and  the 
apostles  came  to  the  house,  and  sat  down,  or 
rather  reclined,  as  the  custom  was,  at  the 
table.  When  the  passover  was  first  instituted, 
the  people  used  to  eat  the  supper  standing, 
with  their  dress  tight  about  them,  and  staves 
in  their  hands,  as  if  just  starting  on  a  journey. 
This  was  to  remind  them  of  the  haste  with 
which  their  fathers  had  eaten  the  first  pass- 
over  on  the  night  they  came  out  of  Egypt. 
But  this  practice  seems  to  have  got  out  of  use, 
and  the  supper  was  eaten  in  the  usual  way  in 
which  the  people  of  the  east  placed  them- 
selves at  table ;  that  is,  they  sat  on  wide 
benches  or  couches,  with  their  feet  upon  them, 
and  leaning  upon  one  of  their  arms.  John 
was  next  to  Jesus  at  the  table,  and  according 
to  this  position,  his  head  might  be  said  almost 
to  have  lain  in  the  Lord's  bosom. 

They  then  ate  the  lamb  and  bread,  and 
drank  of  the  wine,  which  was  handed  round  in 
a  cup,  from  which  all  tasted.     In  the  course 


64  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

of  the  evening,  Jesus,  to  show  his  disciples 
that  they  should  be  humble,  and  be  kind  to 
each  other  when  he  was  gone  from  them, 
went  round  the  benches  on  which  they  were 
reclining,  with  a  basin  of  water,  and  washed 
their  feet,  and  wiped  them  with  a  towel. 
This  surprised  them,  but  it  no  doubt  caused 
them  to  remember  what  he  taught  them  about 
humility,  much  better  than  if  he  had  not  given 
them  such  an  example  of  condescension. 

Whilst  they  were  still  at  the  table,  Jesus 
said  that  one  of  those  very  disciples  that  were 
then  eating  with  him  would  give  him  up  to 
his  enemies.  Who  can  imagine  how  the  dis- 
ciples felt  when  they  heard  this  ?  How  dread- 
ful to  think  that  any  one  of  the  twelve  who 
had  been  with  him  so  long,  and  seen  his  mi- 
racles, and  known  how  good,  and  holy,  and 
kind  he  was,  and  who  had  been  always  treated 
as  his  friends — that  any  one  of  these  should 
now  be  willing  to  betray  him,  to  sell  him  to 
those  who  were  seeking  to  kill  him  !  Jesus 
had  told  them  before  that  he  should  be  be 
trayed ;  but  he  had  never  said  any  thing  of 
the  person  who  should  do  it  until  now.  When 
they  heard  it,  they  were  filled  with  grief,  and 


THE    LAST    PASSOVER.  65 

Jesus  himself  was  sorrowful  as  lie  told  them 
the  dreadful  truth.  The  apostles  could  not 
think  who  of  them  it  M^as  that  would  be 
so  base.  They  looked  at  each  other  in  asto- 
nishment, and  as  if  trying  to  see  who  was  the 
guilty  one.  They  whispered  among  them- 
selves, one  asking  another,  "  Who  can  it  be  ?" 
They  could  not  suspect  any  one  in  particular, 
and  became  so  anxious  that  each  began  to  ask 
the  Lord,  "  Is  it  I  ?"  '♦  Lord,  Is  it  I  ?" 

As  John  was  nearest  to  the  Lord,  and 
could  speak  to  him  without  being  heard  by 
the  rest,  Peter,  who  was  at  another  part  of  the 
table,  beckoned  to  him  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  him  understand  that  he  should  ask 
Jesus  who  it  was.  John  quietly  asked  Jesus, 
and  he  told  him  that  he  should  know  the  man 
in  this  way  : — It  was  usual  at  meals  to  dip  a 
piece  of  bread  into  a  dish  of  sauce,  and  hand 
it  to  the  persons  at  the  table.  Jesus  told 
John  he  was  going  to  do  this,  and  the  man  to 
whom  he  would  give  the  sop  was  the  one 
who  would  betray  him. 

Jesus  then  dipped  the  bread,  or  whatever 
it  was  he  had  in  his  hand,  into   the  thick 
sauce,  made  of  dates,  raisins,  and  other  arti- 
F  2 


66  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

cles,  which  was  commonly  used  at  the  pass- 
over  supper,  and  handed  it  to  Judas  Iscarioi. 
It  soon  became  known  to  all  the  apostles  that 
Judas  was  the  betrayer,  and  Jesus  told  him 
openly  that  he  was  the  man. 

The  fact  was  that  Judas  had  already  be- 
trayed him.  He  knew  that  the  Jewish 
priests  and  other  officers  were  trying  to  get 
an  opportunity  of  seizing  Jesus,  and  having 
him  put  to  death ;  and  he  had  gone  to  them, 
and  asked  them,  how  much  they  would  give 
him  if  he  would  deliver  the  Lord  into  their 
hands.  They  offered  to  give  him  about  fifteen 
dollars,  and  Judas  agreed  to  the  bargain. 
From  that  time  he  was  watching  to  know 
when  Christ  would  be  alone,  so  that  he 
might  tell  the  priests,  and  they  could  take 
him  without  its  being  known  by  the  people, 
many  of  whom  would  have  been  willing  to 
protect  him.  When  it  became  known  to  the 
disciples  at  the  table  that  Judas  was  the 
traitor,  there  was  no  reason  why  he  should 
stay  any  longer  with  them.  Jesus,  there- 
fore, who  knew  what  Judas  had  been  doing, 
told  him  that  he  had  better  now  go  and  do  at 


THE    LAST    SUPPER.  67 

once  what  he  was  about  to  do.     And  Judas 
Iscariot  left  the  room.* 

*  There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  whether  Judas 
was  present  at  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  supper. 
The  author  in  the  above  account  has  followed  Dr. 
Doddridge's  Harmony,  but  our  readers  can  compare  the 
narratives  of  the  four  evangelists,  and  judge  of  its  cor- 
rectaess. 


68  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

The  passover  supper  was  now  iinished, 
and  Jesus,  taking  some  of  the  bread  and 
afterwards  the  wine,  gave  it  to  the  disciples, 
telling  them  all  to  partake.  He  said  that  he 
wished  them,  and  all  who  loved  him,  to  do 
the  same  at  proper  times,  after  his  death,  and 
that  it  should  be  done  by  his  people  till  the 
end  of  the  world.  There  were  to  be  no  more 
passover  suppers,  because  he  was  to  be  the 
sacrifice  which  was  signified  by  the  Lamb ; 
and  he  wished  them  to  remember  him  by 
eating  bread  and  drinking  wine  in  a  solemn 
manner  as  Christians.  He  said  that  as  the 
bread  was  broken  into  pieces,  so  it  might 
remind  them,  and  all  other  believers,  of  his 
body,  which  was  to  be  wounded  and  put  to 
death  on  a  cross,  for  their  salvation.  And  so 
the  wine  would  put  them  in  mind  that  his 
Food  had  been  shed  for  their  sakes. 

Thus  he  instituted  the  Lord's  supper ;  and 
having  sung  a  hymn,  Jesus  and  his  eleven 
apostles  went  out  of  Jerusalem  to  the  Mount 
of  Olives. 


THE  lord's  supper.  69 

We  do  not  know  how  John  acted,  or  what 
he  said  during  this  solemn  scene,  but  his  af- 
fectionate heart  must  have  felt  very  sorrowful, 
when  he  heard  his  beloved  Lord  say  that  he 
was  so  soon  to  suffer  and  to  die.  But  Jesus 
gave  the  disciples  much  consolation.  He 
told  them  not  to  be  troubled ;  he  was  going 
to  heaven  to  prepare  a  place  for  them,  and 
would  send  the  Holy  Spirit  to  comfort  and 
bless  them.  He  begged  them  to  love  one 
another,  and  he  prayed  to  his  Father  to  keep 
them  united  as  brethren,  and  make  them 
holy,  so  that  at  last  they  might  be  brought  to 
heaven,  where  they  would  see  their  Lord,  in  a 
glory  brighter  than  when  he  was  seen  with 
Moses  and  Elijah  in  the  mount,  for  it  would 
be  the  glory  which  he  had  with  the  Father 
before  the  world  was  made. 

John  heard  with  attention  all  that  the  Lord 
said,  and  remembered  it ;  and  he  has  written  it 
down,  and  it  will  be  preserved  till  the  end  of 
the  world. 


7t. 


TIi£   BELuVi;D  DISCIPLE. 


GETHSEMANE. 

Between  Jerusalem  and  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  there  was  a  shady  valley  through 
which  the  brook  Kedron  flowed.      Beyond 


the  brook  was  a  garden,  where  Jesus  oftpn 
went  for  quiet  and  retirement.  It  was  known 
by  the  name  of  Gethsemane.  It  was  to  this 
spot  that  Jesus  came  with  his  disciples,  after 
finishing  the  passover  and  establishing  the 
Lord's  supper.     It  v/as  then  late  on  the  even 


GETHSEMANE.  71 

Ing  of  Thursday,  and  Jesus  wished  to  con- 
verse a  little  more  with  his  disciples,  and 
prepare  them  for  what  was  about  to  take 
place.  He  told  them  that  that  very  night 
they  would  forsake  him,  but  that  after  his 
resurrection  he  would  meet  them  again  in 
Galilee.  He  then  wished  to  spend  some  time 
in  prayer.  And  telling  tlie  other  disciples  to 
remain  where  they  were,  he  took  ,Tohn,  his 
brother  James,  and  Peter,  to  a  more  retired 
part  of  the  garden. 

John  was  now  well  known  as  the  beloved 
disciple;  and  it  had  been  seen  that  evening, 
at  the  passover,  how  much  attached  the  Lord 
was  to  him.  It  was  very  natural  that  he 
should  be  chosen  to  be  with  Jesus  in  a  time 
of  sorrow,  such  as  that  which  was  now  ap- 
proaching. Peter  and  James  were  also  pro- 
per persons  to  be  with  the  Lord  at  such  a 
season.  They,  with  John,  had  beheld  the 
Lord's  glory  when  Moses  and  Elijah  spoke 
with  him,  and  the  voice  of  the  Father  was 
heard  acknowledging  him  as  his  beloved  son  ; 
and  they  were  the  best  fitted  to  behold  him 
now,  when  he  Avas  to  be  seen  as  a  sufferer. 
They  had  then  beheld  him  honoured  as  God  ; 


72  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

they  were  now  to  see  the  proof  that  he  was 
also  man. 

When  Jesus  had  come  with  the  three  dis- 
ciples apart  from  the  rest,  they  saw  that  he 
was  ill  great  sorrow.  It  was  a  sorrow  that 
seemed  to  fill  his  soul,  till  he  could  scarcely 
bear  it.  It  was  not  because  he  was  afraid  to 
suffer  and  to  die.  He  had  often  spoken  about 
it  without  dread,  and  had  told  the  disciples 
that  he  was  going  to  his  Father,  and  should  be 
eternally  glorious  and  happy.  He  had  power, 
too,  to  escape  from  all  his  enemies,  and 
ascend  to  heaven,  before  they  could  injure  him. 

There  was  no  cause  of  the  dreadful  suffer- 
ings of  Jesus  in  Gethsemane  but  this : — he 
came  to  redeem  sinners  from  the  punishment 
which  they  deserved.  And  he  consented  to 
become  a  man,  and  to  bear  himself  the  pun- 
ishment which  the  sinners  in  whose  place 
he  suffered  would  have  had  to  bear,  if  he  had 
not  come  to  save  them.  It  was  this  which 
filled  his  soul  with  such  sorrow,  and  we  should 
remember  it  as  we  read  the  account  of  his 
sufferings. 

Jesus  did  not  conceal  his  distress  from  the 
three  disciples.      He  told  them  that  his  very 


GETHSEMANE.  73 

soul  was  in  such  anguish  that  it  almost  caused 
him  to  die.  But  he  knew,  that  though  he 
was  standing  in  the  place  of  sinful  men,  there 
was  one  way  alone  in  which  help  could  be 
found.  It  was  by  earnest  prayer.  He  there- 
fore told  them  to  stay  near  him,  and  pray  for 
themselves,  while  he  should  look  to  his  Father 
for  relief. 

Jesus  then  went  a  short  distance  from  them, 
and  kneeled  on  the  ground.  He  prayed  that 
the  dreadful  sorrow  which  he  felt  might  be 
removed.  He  was  so  earnest  in  his  prayer 
that  he  fell  on  his  face  ;  and  yet  he  only  asked 
that  his  prayer  might  be  granted  if  it  were 
right  that  it  should  be  ;  that  is,  if  it  were  pos- 
sible to  save  sinners  without  the  suffering  that 
was  coming  upon  him.  But  he  begged  that 
his  Father  would  do  as  He  saw  was  right,  and 
not  to  relieve  him  from  his  sorrow,  if  it  was 
necessary  that  he  should  bear  it. 

Having  prayed  in  this  manner  for  some 
time,  Jesus  came  back  to  John  and  the  other 
two  disciples.  They  had  probably  prayed, 
and  as  the  Lord  did  not  soon  return,  had 
fallen  asleep.  He  again  advised  them  to  keep 
awake,  and  to  pray  against  temptation.     For 

G 


74  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

he  knew  that  soon  they  were  to  be  put  to  a 
great  trial  of  their  faith. 

This  showed  that  even  in  his  own  dreadful 
distress,  he  did  not  forget  his  beloved  disciples. 
And  having  thus  awakened  them,  he  returned 
to  pray.  Again  he  prayed  to  his  Father,  that 
if  it  was  not  right  that  he  should  be  delivered 
from  his  sufferings,  that  his  Father's  will,  and 
not  his  own,  should  be  done.  After  spend- 
ing, as  is  likely,  some  time  in  this  manner, 
Jesus  again  returned  to  the  disciples,  but  they 
had  again  fallen  asleep.  He  probably  awaken- 
ed them,  and  conversed  with  them  for  a  while, 
but  soon  went  again  to  pray.  For  it  seems  as 
if  he  felt  constant  anxiety  on  their  account,  as 
well  as  for  himself. 

He  still  continued  to  pray  on  the  same  sub- 
ject ;  begging  that  his  agony  might  be  relieved 
if  it  was  possible,  and  yet  desiring  that  it 
should  not  be  done  if  his  Father  saw  that  it 
was  necessary  to  deliver  the  souls  of  men 
from  punishment. 

Faithful  prayer  will  always  be  answered. 
God  may  not  give  the  very  thing  that  his  child- 
ren ask  for,  because  he  may  see  that  it  is  not 
best  for  them  to  have  it ;  but  he  will  give  them 


GETHSEMANE.  76 

what  is  better  for  them  than  what  they  ask. 
For  instance,  a  person  may  have  a  very  pain- 
ful disease,  and  may  pray  God  to  cure  it. 
But  God  may  see  that  the  disease  is  necessary 
to  keep  the  person  humble,  and  make  him  pa- 
tient and  more  holy.  So  he  may  answer  his 
prayer  by  giving  him  grace,  or  strength  to 
bear  the  pain,  as  he  did  to  Paul,  when  he  said 
to  him,  "My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee." 
And  every  real  child  of  God  will  desire  to 
have  his  prayer  answered  in  the  way  that 
God  knows  to  be  best. 

In  this  manner  were  our  Lord's  prayers 
answered.  His  sufferings  were  not  removed, 
but  God  sent  an  angel  from  heaven  to  comfort 
him,  and  strengthen  him  to  bear  them. 

Some  persons,  when  they  have  gained  what 
they  prayed  for,  think  there  is  no  need  of 
praying  any  more.  Many  children,  when 
they  are  sick,  pray  very  often  to  be  made  well. 
But  when  God  makes  them  well  they  forget 
him,  and  do  not  find  it  so  pleasant  to  pray  to 
him,  as  they  did  when  they  felt  their  need  of 
him. 

This  was  not  the  case  with  Jesus.  When 
he  had  been  comforted  by  the  angel,  he  did  not 


76  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

go  away  from  Gethseraane  satisfied.  No,  he 
prayed  more  earnestly  than  before.  He  felt 
that  it  was  good  to  pray.  And  though  his 
agony  of  soul,  on  account  of  the  sins  of  others, 
continued,  yet  he  knew  that  God  would  up- 
hold him. 

His  sorrows,  indeed,  increased.  It  was 
night,  and  he  was  in  the  cool  air,  but  such 
was  the  earnestness  of  his  prayer,  and  the 
greatness  of  his  agony,  that  sweat  rolled 
from  him,  and  even  his  blood  was  forced 
through  his  skin,  and  fell  in  large  drops  on 
the  ground. 

Oh,  my  young  reader  !  stop  here,  and  think 
who  it  was  that  suffered  this,  and  what  was 
the  cause  of  it  all.  Remember,  it  was  the 
holy  Jesus,  the  Creator  of  the  world,  who 
was  in  this  distress.  Remember,  that  he 
came  from  heaven  for  the  very  purpose  of 
suffering  all  this  in  the  place  of  sinners,  so 
that  they  might  be  pardoned,  if  they  would  re- 
pent of  their  sins,  and  trust  in  him.  Can  you 
think  that  he  suffered  this  for  you?  Can  you 
believe  that  the  Son  of  God  loved  you  so 
much,  that  he  would  come  from  heaven,  and 
live  more  than  thirty  years  on  this  earth,  and 


GETHSEMANE.  77 

then  bear  this  and  all  that  followed,  for  your 
sake  ?  And  if  you  believe  this,  are  you  still 
sinning  against  this  merciful  Saviour  ?  Are 
you  still  refusing  to  become  his  disciple  ? 
"Will  not  all  this  love  and  sorrow  move  you  to 
go  to  him,  and  beseech  God,  for  his  sake,  to 
pardon  your  sins,  and  send  his  Holy  Spirit  to 
change  your  heart?  He  now  sees  you  as  you 
read  this  book,  and  knows  how  you  feel. 
He  is  ready  and  willing  this  moment  to  re- 
ceive you,  if  you  really  desire  to  be  his  disci- 
ple. Will  you  not,  then,  now  trust  your  soul 
to  him,  and  be  his  ? 


g2 


78  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

THE  BETRAYAL. 

When  Jesus  had  finished  praying,  and  had 
come  to  the  disciples,  he  found  that  they 
had  for  the  third  time  fallen  asleep.  He 
aroused  them  as  he  had  done  before,  and  told 
them  that  the  hour  had  come  in  which  he  was 
to  be  betrayed,  and  that  the  traitor  was  now 
close  by  them. 

If  John,  James,  and  Peter  had  attended  to 
the  advice  of  the  Lord,  and  spent  the  time  in 
prayer,  they  might  have  been  prepared  for  all 
that  took  place,  and  have  kept  by  their  Lord  till 
the  last.  But  now  they  were  terrified,  whilst 
Jesus  was  ready  to  meet  his  enemies  without 
fear,  and  to  give  himself  up  into  their  hands. 

He  had  scarcely  told  them  that  his  hour 
had  come,  when  they  heard  a  mob  of  people 
coming  into  the  garden.  They  saw  that  they 
were  armed  with  swords  and  clubs,  and  that 
Judas  was  leading  them  on.  He  had  often 
been  in  that  very  garden  with  Jesus,  and  knew 
where  to  find  him.  To  prevent  their  taking 
one  of  the  disciples  for  Jesus,  in  the  darkness 
of  the  garden,  Judas  had  agreed  to  go  up  to 
Jesus  and  kiss  him,  which  was  the  manner 


THE    BETRAYAL.  79 

in  which  the  Jews  saluted  each  other  when 
they  met.  The  people  would  know  by  this 
that  he  was  Jesus,  and  were  to  seize  him  and 
take  him  away. 

It  seems  wonderful  that  Judas  could  dare  to 
do  this,  when  he  remembered  that  Jesus  had 
told  him,  before  all  the  disciples  at  the  pass- 
over,  that  he  was  going  to  betray  him.  But  his 
wickedness  was  now  so  great  that  he  had  no 
shame,  and  he  went  up  to  Jesus  as  if  he  was 
his  friend  and  disciple,  calling  him  Master, 
and  kissed  him. 

The  meek  Saviour  was  not  provoked  by 
this  to  anger.  He  had  been  spending  the 
night  in  prayer,  and  his  holy  soul  felt  no  evil 
passion.  He  only  asked  him  for  what  pur- 
pose he  had  come  there,  and  if  he  was  going 
to  betray  him  under  the  pretence  of  showing 
his  affection  in  kissing  him. 

Jesus  then  went  without  fear  towards  the 
mob,  and  asked  them  whom  they  were  look- 
ing for.  They  said  they  were  looking  for 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Wicked  men  are  of 
ten  very  bold  in  determining  to  commit  some 
great  crime,  but  when  they  come  to  do  it, 
they  feel  afraid  to  go  on.     This   seems  to 


80  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

have  been  the  case  with  the  people  who  came 
after  Christ.  Perhaps  they  began  to  tremble 
with  fear,  when  they  found  themselves  so  near 
the  innocent  person  they  had  come  to  injure. 
There  was  a  great  multitude  of  them,  and 
they  had  swords  and  clubs,  whilst  there  were 
no  more  than  eleven  (perhaps  only  three)  men 
with  Jesus,  and  they  could  not  make  much 
resistance.  But  yet  when  Jesus  told  them 
plainly,  that  he  was  the  one  they  were  look- 
ing for,  the  whole  multitude  began  to  draw 
back  in  terror,  and  fell  on  the  ground. 

This  was  enough  to  convince  them  and  the 
disciples,  that  Jesus  might  easily  have  es- 
caped from  them.  But  he  did  not  wish  to 
avoid  his  sufferings,  and  he  again  asked  them 
whom  they  had  come  after.  They  now  took 
courage  and  replied  again,  "  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth." Jesus  then  said  that  he  had  already 
told  them  that  he  was  the  person,  and  that  as 
he  was  the  only  one  they  were  seeking,  they 
should  let  his  disciples  go  away  without  in- 
jury. 

Yes,  he  was  willing  to  be  left  alone  with  this 
mob  of  violent  men,  rather  than  have  one  of  his 
disciples  suffer  any  injury  by  being  with  him. 


THE    BETRAYAL.  81 

The  people  then  came  forward  and  seized 
Jesus  with  their  hands.  The  three  disciples 
had  been  probably  in  fear  all  this  time,  and 
not  knowing  what  to  do.  But  when  their  be- 
loved Master  was  thus  taken  hold  of  like  a 
robber,  Peter's  anger  was  aroused,  and  taking 
hold  of  a  sword,  he  struck  one  of  the  men. 
Jesus  at  once  told  him  he  had  done  wrong, 
and  healed  the  man's  wound,  assuring  Peter 
that  he  did  not  need  the  defence  of  men,  for 
if  he  chose  to  pray  to  his  Father  for  help,  he 
would  send  thousands  of  angels  to  deliver 
him.  But  he  would  not  have  any  thiflg  done 
to  prevent  what  the  prophets  had  foretold  in 
the  Scriptures  should  happen  to  him. 

Among  the  rest  of  the  crowd  was  a  com- 
pany of  Roman  soldiers,  with  their  captain. 
They  now  came  forward  and  took  charge  of 
Jesus,  and  to  keep  him  from  escaping,  tied  his 
hands  together. 

As  all  the  disciples  had  gone  with  Jesus 
that  night  to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  he  had 
left  them  to  go  to  Gethsemane  with  John, 
James,  and  Peter,  it  is  likely  that  by  this 
time,  the  eleven  were  either  with  him,  or 
were  somewhere  in  the  garden.     They  now 


82  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

saw  their  Lord  taken  by  the  mob,  bound,  and 
about  to  be  led  away  by  a  guard  of  soldiers. 
It  was  at  night.  Every  thing  was  terrifying. 
They  knew  not  what  was  going  to  take  place. 
They  were  astonished  and  alarmed.  Perhaps 
the  three  who  had  been  with  him  the  whole 
time,  understood  the  Lord  to  mean  that  they 
ought  to  escape,  when  he  told  the  mob  that 
as  they  had  only  come  for  him,  they  should  let 
them  go  away.  But  whatever  m.ay  have  been 
the  cause,  when  Jesus  was  led  off  by  the 
people,  all  the  disciples  left  him. 


THE    HIGH    priest's.  83 

THE  HIGH  PRIEST'S. 

But  Peter  and  another  disciple  soon  felt 
how  unkindly  they  had  acted.  Although  it 
is  not  positively  certain  that  this  other  dis- 
ciple was  John,  yet  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  it  was  he,  and  we  shall  so  speak 
of  him.  They  followed  the  mob  till  they 
brought  Jesus  to  the  house  of  Caiaphas,  the 
high  priest.  The  priests  and  many  of  the 
principal  Jewish  rulers  had  probably  been 
waiting  at  his  house  all  the  night,  to  be  ready 
to  condemn  Jesus  as  soon  as  Judas  should 
bring  him. 

When  they  came  to  the  house,  nobody  was 
allowed  to  go  in  but  those  who  were  guarding 
Jesus.     There  was  a  woman  at  the  door  to 
keep  out  the  crowd.     But  as  John  had  some 
acquaintance  with  Caiaphas,   she   permitted 
him  to  go  in  ;  and  when  he  found  that  Peter 
was  kept  out,  John  spoke  to  the  woman,  and 
she  allowed  him  also  to  come  inside  of  the 
house.     Jesus  was  taken  before  the  priests 
and  officers,  and  they  tried  to  find  persons 
wicked  enough  to  tell  falsehoods  about  him, 
80  that  they  might   condemn  him.     While 


84  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE 

this  was  going  on,  John  was  probably  in  the 
same  room  with  Jesus,  listening  anxiously  to 
all  that  was  said.  But  Peter  stood  in  another 
place,  warming  himself  by  the  fire,  for  it  was 
yet  night,  and  the  air  in  Judea  at  that  time  is 
cool.  It  was  then  that  Peter  was  taught  how 
unable  he  was  without  the  help  of  God  to  be 
faithful  in  times  of  temptation. 

That  very  evening  he  had  declared  boldly 
to  the  Lord  that  though  every  one  else  should 
forsake  him,  he  never  would;  and  that  if  it 
should  cost  him  his  life,  he  would  not  deny 
him.  The  Lord  had  just  told  him  that  they 
all  should  forsake  him  that  night,  and  it  was 
contradicting  what  he  said,  to  speak  as  Peter 
did.  But  the  Lord  let  him  see  that  without 
his  help,  he,  like  all  others,  would  be  conti- 
nually going  into  sin.  Whilst  he  was  in  the 
house  that  night,  he  denied  three  different 
times  that  he  was  a  disciple  of  Christ,  or  that 
he  even  knew  him.  But  when  he  afterwards 
saw  Jesus,  and  thought  of  what  he  had  done, 
he  was  deeply  distressed,  and  went  out  and 
wept  bitterly. 

The  priests  and  others  had  been  all  this 
time  trying  to  make  an  excuse  for  saying  that 


THE    HIGH    priest's.  85 

Jesus  deserved  to  be  put  to  death.  But  it 
was  impossible  to  find  any  one  who  would 
say  that  he  had  ever  done  any  thing  that  was 
wrong,  or  deserved  the  least  punishment. 
His  whole  life  had  been  spent  in  doing  good 
and  in  teaching  the  truth.  But  when  he 
acknowledged  that  he  was  the  Son  of  God, 
they  declared  that  he  had  spoken  blasphemy, 
and  said  that  he  must  be  put  to  death,  as  the  law 
of  Moses  required.  Not  satisfied  with  this, 
they  allowed  the  men  who  were  around  Jesus 
to  strike  him,  and  to  cover  his  eyes  so  that 
he  could  not  see,  and  even  to  spit  in  his  face. 
How  must  John  have  felt  when  he  saw  his 
beloved  Master  standing  amongst  such  men, 
with  his  hands  tied,  and  suffering  such  treat- 
ment ! 

Will  you  stop  here  again,  my  reader,  and 
think  why  it  was  that  tfie  holy  and  innocent 
Jesus  bore  this,  and  for  whose  sake  he  did  it? 
You  perhaps  say  how  could  they  treat  so 
good  a  being  in  this  manner !  But  how  have 
you  treated  him?  Have  you  loved,  and 
obeyed,  and  honoured  him  as  you  think 
these  priests  ought  to  have  done  ?  He  is  the 
H 


86  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

same  Jesus  still,  and  though  men  no  longer 
have  the  power  to  bind  and  insult  and  kill 
him,  they  may  neglect  and  hate  him.  Will 
you  be  among  these  ? 


THE  governor's.  87 


THE  GOVERNOR'S. 

It  was  now  Friday  morning.  For  all  that 
has  been  related  took  place  on  the  night  after 
the  passover  at  Jerusalem.  They  next  led  Je- 
sus to  one  of  the  governors  whom  the  Roman 
emperor  had  placed  over  the  Jews.  His 
name  was  Pontius  Pilate.  The  reason  they 
brought  Jesus  to  him  was,  that  the  Jews 
were  not  allowed  to  put  any  man  to  death, 
unless  the  governor  would  consent  to  it.  As 
Pilate  was  not  a  Jew,  he  did  not  care  for  the 
laws  of  Moses,  and  therefore  would  not  have 
allowed  them  to  put  a  man  to  death  for  blas- 
phemy. The  Jews  knew  this,  and  when 
Pilate  asked  what  his  crime  was,  instead  of 
telling  him  what  they  had  condemned  him 
for,  they  made  a  new  falsehood.  They  said 
he  had  been  teaching  the  people  that  the 
Roman  emperor  had  no  right  to  govern  them, 
and  that  he  was  their  king.  But  they  could 
bring  no  proof  that  he  had  ever  said  such  a 
thing  ;  and  Pilate  did  not  believe  it,  and  told 
the  people  that  he  could  find  no  fault  in 
Jesus. 


88  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

But  this  did  not  satisfy  the  people.  They 
were  determined  to  have  Jesus  put  to  death, 
and  still  wanted  Pilate  to  consent  to  it. 
Pilate  did  not  wish  to  condemn  an  innocent 
person,  and  yet  did  not  like  to  offend  the 
Jews.  So  when  he  heard  that  Jesus  lived 
in  Galilee,  he  thought  he  would  avoid  all 
trouble  by  sending  him  to  the  governor  of 
that  district :  for  Pilate  was  only  governor  of 
Judea.  The  governor  of  Galilee,  or  tetrarch, 
as  he  was  called,  was  named  Herod  Antipas. 
He  was  the  man  who  had  put  John  the  Bap- 
tist in  jail,  and  had  him  beheaded  there. 
Herod  was  at  this  time  in  Jerusalem  ;  for  he 
was  a  Jew,  and  had  probably  come  there  to 
attend  the  passover. 

Pilate  therefore  sent  Jesus  to  Herod,  and 
the  priests  and  others  again  accused  him. 
Jesus,  seeing  that  there  was  no  proof  brought 
against  him,  and  knowing  that  it  would  be  in 
vain  to  say  any  thing  to  such  a  man  as  Herod, 
made  no  reply  to  the  accusations.  Herod, 
instead  of  telling  the  people  that  they  had 
proved  nothing  against  Jesus  and  letting  him 
go,  ridiculed  and  insulted  him  ;  and  to  make 
mockery  of  him,  put  on  him  a  showy  dresa, 


THE  governor's.  89 

perhaps  some  old  robe  which  had  once  been 
very  gay,  but  which  would  make  the  people 
laugh  at  Jesus.  He  sent  him  back  to  Pilate 
with  this  dress  on. 

Pilate  then  told  the  priests  and  rulers  and 
the  other  people,  that  neither  he  nor  Herod 
could  find  any  fault  in  Jesus;  but  that  to 
please  them  he  would  have  him  beaten  with 
a  whip,  called  the  scourge,  and  then  let  him 
go.  He  also  proposed,  that  as  it  was  his 
custom  at  every  passover  to  set  at  liberty 
some  one  in  prison  whom  they  desired,  he 
would  this  year  dismiss  Jesus,  who  was  now 
a  prisoner.  But  they  would  not  hear  to  this, 
and  said  they  would  rather  he  should  pardon 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Barabbas,  who  was 
known  to  be  a  robber  and  murderer.  Pilate 
then  asked  them  what  he  should  do  with 
Jesus  ;  for  he  had  not  been  found  guilty  of 
any  crime,  and  yet  they  kept  him  bound. 
The  whole  mob  then  cried  out  that  he  ought 
to  be  crucified, — that  is,  nailed  by  the  hands 
and  feet  to  cross  pieces  of  wood,  which  was 
the  way  in  which  slaves  were  commonly  exe- 
cuted. Pilate  again  tried  to  reason  with  them, 
but  they  would  not  regard  what  he  said,  and 
h2 


90  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE* 

only  cried  out  the  more,  "  Crucify  him  !  cru- 
cify him !"  He  asked  them  again  why  he 
should  do  this  ?  What  had  Jesus  done  that  was 
wrong  ?  But  they  had  nothing  to  answer 
him,  but  "  Crucify  him  !  crucify  him  J" 


THE  CROSS.  01 


THE  CROSS. 


After  this,  Pilate  gave  up  Jesus  to  the 
people,  rather  than  displease  them.  He  him- 
self caused  him  to  be  beaten  with  the  scourge, 
a  most  painful  whip  of  several  lashes,  with 
sharp  thongs  to  each.  His  soldiers  then 
took  him,  and,  to  make  sport  with  him,  pre- 
tended to  treat  him  as  a  king.  They  put  a 
purple  and  scarlet  dress  on  him  ;  and  for  a 
crown,  they  platted  together  some  branches 
of  a  thorn-bush,  and  pressed  it  on  his  head. 
And  as  kings  on  great  occasions  carry  scep- 
tres, they  mocked  Jesus  by  putting  a  stick  in 
his  hands,  which  were  still  tied  together. 
Then  they  bowed  and  knelt,  laughing  at  him, 
and  calling  him  king  of  the  Jews.  Some 
struck  him  with  their  hands,  and  taking  the 
stick  which  they  had  made  him  hold,  struck 
him  on  the  head. 

Pilate  again  tried  to  persuade  the  people  to 
be  satisfied  with  what  they  had  done.  But 
they  were  determined  to  put  Jesus  to  death, 
and  the  unjust  and  cruel  governor  consented. 
The  people  then,  taking  off  the  purple  and 
scarlet  clothes  which  they  had  put  upon  him 


92  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

in  mockery,  led  him  away,  intending  to  cru- 
cify him.  A  great  crowd  followed  them,  as 
they  took  Jesus  to  a  hill  a  short  distance  from 
Jerusalem  named  Calvary,  or,  as  it  was  some- 
times called,  Golgotha;  which  was  the  place 
where  they  commonly  put  persons  to  death. 

Weak  and  exhausted  as  Jesus  must  have 
been,  after  the  sleepless  and  anxious  night  he 
had  passed,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  morning, 
they  made  him  carry  part  of  his  own  cross  up 
the  hill.  And  to  make  it  appear  still  more  as 
if  Jesus  was  a  common  criminal  going  to  be 
punished,  two  men  were  taken  to  Calvary  who 
were  to  be  crucified  for  robbery. 

Although  so  many  things  had  taken  place 
since  the  passover  on  Thursday  evening,  yet 
it  was  now  only  nine  o'clock  on  Friday  morn- 
ing when  they  brought  Jesus  to  the  place  of 
death.  As  soon  as  they  reached  the  place  the 
soldiers  laid  a  cross  on  the  ground,  and  taking 
Jesus,  they  placed  him  on  his  back  upon  it. 
They  then  stretched  out  his  arms  on  the 
cross  piece  of  wood,  and  while  one  man  held 
his  arm,  another  drove  a  large  iron  spike 
through  the  middle  of  his  hand  into  the  wood. 
Then   they  drove   spikes  through  his   feet, 


THE  CROSS. 


93 


fastening  them  to  the 
lower  part  of  the  cross. 
A  hole  was  dug  in 
the  ground,  and  se- 
veral men  lifting  up  the 
cross,  with  Jesus  nail- 
ed on  it,  put  the  end 
of  it  in  the  hole,  and, 
making  it  fast,  left  it 
standing.  The  two 
robbers  were  crucified 
at  the  same  time,  and 
one  of  them  was  placed 
on  each  side  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  When  the 
soldiers  had  done  this,  they  sat  down  on  the 
ground  to  wait  until  the  crucified  persons 
should  be  dead :  for  men  often  passed  seve- 
ral hours  in  great  agony  on  the  cross  before 
they  died. 

The  enemies  of  Jesus  were  not  even  satis- 
fied now,  when  he  was  suffering  the  most 
dreadful  and  disgraceful  punishment  they  could 
inflict.  They  insulted  him  even  on  the  cross  ; 
asking  him  why  he  did  not  come  down,  and 
ridiculing  what  he  had  said.  The  soldiers  also 
took  his  clothes,  and  divided  them  among 
themselves. 


94  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

But  there  were  other  persons  at  Calvary 
that  morning  than  the  enemies  of  Jesus. 
There  were  some  to  weep  at  his  sufferings, 
and  who  would  not  leave  him  to  die  alone. 
There  stood  his  mother,  who  was  now  proba- 
bly more  than  fifty  years  of  age.  What  a 
dreadful  sight,  to  behold  her  son  in  such  tor- 
tures, without  being  able  to  do  any  thing  for 
him  !  Her  sister  was  with  her ;  and  also  a 
woman  whom  Jesus  had  cured  of  a  distressing 
disease,  whose  name  was  Mary,  of  the  town 
of  Magdala,  and  therefore  called  Alagdalene. 
The  beloved  disciple  was  also  there.  It  is  not 
likely  that  John  had  left  the  Lord  a  moment 
since  he  was  taken  to  the  house  of  Caiaphas. 
He  knew  he  could  not  help  him,  and  that 
Jesus  did  not  wish  him  to  try.  But  he  loved 
his  Lord  too  well  to  leave  him.  He,  there- 
fore, followed  him  to  Calvary,  and,  perhaps, 
sometimes  spoke  affectionately  to  him  on  the 
way.  But,  distressed  as  John  must  have 
been,  he  no  doubt  tried  to  comfort  the  mother 
of  the  dying  Jesus.  He  could  tell  her  of  many 
things  he  had  said  about  his  coming  again,  and 
could  repeat  some  of  the  delightful  promises 
and  consolations  which  he  had  given  to  his 


THE  CROSS.  95 

disciples  when  he  had  told  them  not  to  let 
their  hearts  be  troubled.  None  of  the  disci- 
ples, indeed,  understood  exactly  what  Christ 
meant  when  he  told  them  he  would  rise  again 
the  third  day,  but  yet  they  must  have  had  a 
hope  that  he  would  in  some  way  triumph  over 
his  enemies.  John,  and  the  mother  of  Jesus, 
and  Mary  Magdalene,  stood  near  the  cross. 
There  were  others  of  his  friends  who  stood 
further  off:  among  these  was  Salome,  John's 
mother. 

Notwithstanding  his  dreadful  agony,  Jesus 
did  not  forget  his  mother,  or  his  beloved  dis- 
ciple. Joseph,  her  husband,  seems  to  have 
died  before  this ;  and  there  would  be  now  no 
one  to  take  care  of  her  in  her  old  age.  As  Jesus 
hung  on  the  cross,  and  saw  her  and  John  look- 
ing anxiously  up  to  him,  he  remembered  this. 
He  knew  how  much  John  loved  him,  and  that 
he  would  do  any  thing  he  asked  of  him. 
Jesvs,  therefore,  speaking  to  his  mother,  and 
alluding  to  John,  said,  ^^Behold  thy  son.*^ 
Mary  knew  at  once  that  he  meant  that,  as  he 
was  now  about  to  leave  the  world,  she  should 
regard  John  with  as  much  affection  as  if  he 
were  her  own  son.     He  then  said  to  John — 


96  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

*'  Behold  thy  mother  f'  and  these  few  words 
were  enough  to  make  John  understand  that 
he  wished  him  to  regard  and  take  care  of 
Mary,  as  if  she  were  his  own  mother. 

Nothing  can  be  more  tender  or  affectionate 
than  this  scene.  It  showed  not  only  how 
much  the  Lord  loved  his  mother,  but  also 
what  confidence  he  had  in  his  disciple.  Most 
persons  when  in  great  pain  can  think  of  none 
but  themselves.  But  it  seems  as  if  Jesus  was 
always  thinking  of  others  and  trying  to  do 
them  good.  He  comforted  the  women  who 
lamented  for  him  as  he  went  from  Jerusalem 
to  Calvary ;  and  even  on  the  cross  not  only 
provided  for  his  mother,  and  showed  his  re- 
gard for  his  beloved  disciple,  but  gave  a  pro- 
mise of  mercy  to  one  of  the  robbers,  when  he 
found  he  was  penitent,  and  at  last  prayed  for 
those  who  were  putting  him  to  death. 

Jesus  was  about  six  hours  on  the  cross  be- 
fore he  died.  At  twelve  o'clock  it  began  to 
be  very  dark,  and  continued  so  until  three  in 
the  afternoon.  What  dreadful  sorrows  he 
passed  through  in  that  time  cannot  be  told. 
He  was  suffering  great  pains  from  his  cruci- 
fixion, but  he  had  more  awful  distress  to  bear. 


THE    CROSS.  97 

He  was  the  sacrifice  for  sinners  ;  he  had  con- 
sented to  take  their  punishment  upon  himself, 
so  that  those  who  repented  and  believed  in 
him  might  be  pardoned.  It  seems  as  if  his 
Father  had  now  left  him;  for  he  cried  out 
aloud,  *'  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me  .'"  Soon  after  this  his  lips  were 
wet  with  vinegar,  which  one  of  the  soldiers 
put  to  his  mouth  by  fastening  a  sponge  to  the 
end  of  a  long  reed ;  and  this  was  the  only 
thing  that  he  took  to  refresh  himself  dur- 
ing the  whole  day.  The  time  of  his  depart- 
ure was  now  near,  and  the  great  work  for  which 
he  had  come  down  from  heaven  and  endur- 
ed all  this  agony,  was  nearly  done.  He  knew 
this,  and  said  aloud,  "  It  is  finished.''''  He 
then  said,  *'  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commit 
my  spirit. ^^ 

Every  one  was  looking  up  to  the  holy  suf- 
ferer. His  mother  and  his  beloved  disciple 
must  have  watched  every  motion  and  listened 
to  every  sound.  They  looked  anxiously  at 
his  face,  and  as  they  looked,  his  head  was 
suddenly  bowed — Jesus  was  dead  ! 

The  darkness   still   continued ;   the   great 
curtain  in   the  temple  fell  apart  as  if  it  had 
I 


98  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

been  suddenly  torn  :  there  was  an  earthquake  : 
rocks  were  violently  split :  graves  were  open- 
ed, and  many  holy  men  arose.  Such  things 
would  not  have  happened  at  the  death  of  a 
mere  man  ;  and  even  the  soldiers  were  in  fear, 
and  one  of  them  cried  out,  "  Truly,  this  was 
the  Son  of  God.^^  And  the  people  that  had 
followed  Jesus  that  morning  to  Calvary,  and 
had  cried  out  for  his  death,  were  now  filled 
with  terror,  and  striking  their  breasts  as  a 
sign  of  their  distress,  went  back  to  the  city. 

But  John  did  not  even  now  leave  the  Lord.; 
and  while  he  stood  near  the  cross,  he  saw  one 
of  the  soldiers  with  his  long  spear  pierce 
the  dead  body  of  Jesus  to  the  very  heart. 
Soon  after  this  the  body  was  taken  down  from 
the  cross,  as  the  Jews  did  not  wish  it  to  re- 
main on  the  Sabbath,  which  commenced  on 
Friday  evening.  Several  of  the  friends  of 
Jesus  took  charge  of  it,  particularly  a  rich 
man  named  Joseph,  who  obtained  permission 
of  Pilate  to  bury  it  himself.  Joseph,  Nico- 
demus,  and  others,  wrapped  the  body  in  fine 
linen,  with  a  great  quantity  of  spice  to  pre- 
serve it  from  decay,  and  laid  it  in  a  new  tomb 
which  belonged  to  Joseph,  and  was  situated  in 


THE    CROSS.  99 

a  garden  near  Golgotha.  There  they  thought 
they  would  let  it  remain  until  the  Sabbath 
was  over,  and  then  they  would  have  it 
anointed  and  embalmed,  according  to  the 
Jewish  custom,  and  leave  it  in  the  tomb.  So 
little  did  they  know  what  was  about  to  take 
place ! 

When  John  was  going  home  from  Calvary 
that  evening,  he  did  not  forget  what  his  Lord 
had  said  to  him  from  the  cross.  He  took 
with  him  the  sorrowing  mother  of  the  crucified 
Jesus,  and  from  that  time  took  care  of  her 
as  if  she  was  his  own  mother.  His  affec- 
tionate disposition,  and  his  love  to  the  Lord, 
and  to  her  for  his  sake,  must  have  made  her 
home  as  happy  as  any  place  could  be,  to  one 
who  had  parted  with  such  a  son. 


100  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

THE  RISING. 

When  Saturday,  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  was 
over,  some  pious  women  went  to  the  tomb 
of  Jesus  before  sunrise  the  next  morning,  to 
finish  the  embahning-  of  the  body,  which  they 
had  not  had  time  to  do  on  Friday  afternoon 
As  a  large  stone  had  been  rolled  to  the  place  of 
entrance  into  the  tomb,  (the  tomb  or  grave 
itself  being  cut  out  of  a  solid  rock,)  the  women 
were  wondering,  as  they  went  along,  how 
they  should  get  it  moved  away.  But  when 
they  came  to  the  place,  they  saw  that  the 
stone  was  already  taken  from  the  door  of  the 
sepulchre,  and  that  the  body  of  the  Lord  was 
gone.  One  of  them  at  once  ran  back  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  told  John  and  Peter.  The  two 
disciples  ran  in  great  haste  to  the  place,  and 
there  found  that  it  was  indeed  so.  They  went 
into  the  tomb,  and  saw  the  linen  in  which  the 
body  had  been  wrapped,  but  Jesus  was  not 
there.  They  soon  returned  to  Jerusalem,  won- 
dering at  what  had  occurred,  and  perhaps 
intending  to  call  the  apostles  together  to  de- 
cide upon  what  should  be  done. 

The  truth  was,  that  very  early  on  Sunday 


THE  RISING.  101 

morning,  before  the  women  had  gone  to  the 
grave,  an  angel  descended  from  heaven,  re- 
moved the  stone  from  the  entrance,  and  Jesus 
arose  alive  and  left  the  burying-place.  There 
was  in  the  garden  at  the  time  a  company  of 
Roman  soldiers,  which  Pilate  had  sent  to 
guard  the  sepulchre  and  prevent  the  disciples 
from  taking  the  body  away.  For  several  per- 
sons had  heard  Jesus  say,  he  would  rise  the 
third  day  after  his  death,  and  the  people  thought 
that  the  disciples  might  come  and  take  away 
his  body,  and  then  pretend  that  it  had  gone 
to  heaven.  To  prevent  this,  these  soldiers 
were  placed  to  guard  the  tomb ;  and  to  be 
sure  that  no  person  could  move  the  stone  with- 
out its  being  known,  it  was  sealed  with  wax, 
which  of  course  would  be  broken  if  the  stone 
was  moved.  The  appearance  of  the  angel 
was  so  splendid  and  terrible,  that  when  the 
soldiers  saw  him  move  the  stone  and  sit  upon 
it,  they  trembled  with  alarm,  and  could  say 
or  do  nothing ;  and  probably  as  soon  as  the 
angel  disappeared,  and  they  found  that  Jesus 
had  gone,  they  went  to  the  temple  to  tell 
what  had  taken  place. 

Mary  Magdalene   was    the    person    who 
12 


102  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

brought  the  news  to  John  and  Peter  that  the 
sepulchre  was  empty.  After  they  had  seen 
the  place,  and  returned  to  Jerusalem,  she 
came  back  to  the  garden.  She  Avas  standing 
by  the  tomb  weeping  in  great  distress,  when 
happening  to  look  in,  she  saw  two  angels  sit 
ting  in  the  sepulchre.  When  they  observed 
her,  they  asked  what  was  the  matter  with  her. 
She  told  them  she  was  weeping  because 
some  one  had  taken  away  the  body  of  the 
Lord,  and  she  could  not  find  what  they  had 
done  with  it.  As  she  said  this  she  observed 
another  person  standing  near  her,  who  also 
asked  her  why  she  was  there  weeping,  and 
whom  she  was  looking  for.  In  her  distress 
she  did  not  take  particular  notice  of  the  per- 
son who  spoke,  and  perhaps  at  that  early 
hour  of  the  morning,  and  in  a  dark  part  of  the 
garden,  she  could  not  easily  have  known  any 
one.  But  thinking  that  it  was  probably  the 
gardener  of  the  place,  she  begged  him  to  tell 
her  if  he  had  removed  the  body  of  Jesus  from 
the  grave  ;  and  if  he  had,  and  would  tell  her 
where  it  was,  she  would  take  it  away,  and 
have  it  buried  in  some  other  spot. 

When  the  person  only  answered  her  by 


THE    RISING.  103 

calling  her  name,  Mary  !  she  knew  at  once  it 
was  Jesus  himself  who  had  been  speaking  to 
her.  It  seems  as  if  she  must  have  been  over- 
come with  joy  and  astonishment,  and  per- 
haps was  falling  on  her  knees  before  her  Lord ; 
for  he  at  once  told  her  not  to  show  any  such 
marks  of  reverence  and  love  at  that  time,  but 
to  go  and  tell  his  disciples  that  he  was  soon 
to  leave  the  earth  and  ascend  to  his  Father. 

These  were  some  of  the  wonderful  events 
which  took  place  on  the  Sunday  morning 
after  the  crucifixion  and  burial  of  the  Lord. 
It  soon  became  known  to  all  the  apostles  that 
Jesus  had  risen.  Some  would  not  believe  it ; 
all  were  astonished.  For  though  Jesus  had 
so  plainly  declared  he  would  rise  again,  none 
of  them  seem  to  have  understood  him  to 
mean  that  he  would  so  soon  appear  again  in 
his  own  body.  But  their  doubts  were  soon 
removed,  for  that  very  evening  he  met  ten  of 
the  apostles  together  in  a  room  in  Jerusalem 
where  they  had  assembled.  John  says  the 
disciples  were  rejoiced  to  see  their  Lord 
again.  He  must  have  been  particularly  glad 
himself  to  see  the  Master  whom  he  so  much 
loved,  and  who  had  shown  him  such  great 


104 


THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 


affection  as  to  make  him  known  among  all 
the  others  as  the  Beloved  Disciple.  He  and 
the  other  apostles  now  understood  what  their 
Lord  had  meant,  when  he  told  them  he  would 
rise  the  third  day.  They  began  to  see  that 
there  was  something  more  important  in  his 
death  than  they  had  yet  clearly  known,  and 
the  glorious  and  wonderful  truth  began  to  be 
perceived,  that  he  had  died  as  the  Lamb  of  God. 
On  the  morning  of  his  resurrection  the 
Lord  sent  word  to  his  apostles  to  go  to  Gali- 
lee, and  promised  to  meet  them  there.     John 

—  therefore  went 


Mt.  Tabor 


SAMARIA 

Samaria  O 

0  Sycbar 


Jerusalem 


back  to  his 
old  home  on 
the  Lake  of 
Gennesaret. 

How  much 
he  had  seen 
and  learned 
since  he  had 
left  his  boat 
and  net  there  to 
follow  Jesus  ! 
What  wonder- 
ful scenes  had 


THE  RISING.  105 

he  passed  through  !     He  was  then  a  humble 
fisherman,  expecting   perhaps   to   spend    his 
whole  life  in  the  same  business  that  his  father 
Zebedee  had  followed  before  him.     But  he 
had   been  called  away  from   his   occupation 
and  his   home  to  follow  him  who  was  then 
known  only  as  a  man  of  Nazareth.     He  had 
been  with  him  several  years.     He  had  seen 
him  perform  the  works  of  God ;  he  had  seen 
him  surrounded  by  divine  glory,  and   heard 
him  called  the  Son  of  God  by  the  voice  of  the 
Father  from  heaven.    Again,  he  had  seen  him 
pleading  with   the   Father   in  agony  which 
forced  the  blood  through  his  skin.     He  had 
seen  him  betrayed,  persecuted,  abused,  seized 
by  a  mob,  bound,  and  insulted ;  and  at  length 
put  to  death  in  the  most  public  and  disgrace- 
ful manner.     Then  he  had  seen  the  darkness, 
and   the   earthquake,  and  the  rising  of  the 
saints,  which  took  place  as  he  hung  on  the 
cross.     And  now  he  had  beheld  him  again 
alive,  and  had  talked  with  him,  though  he  had 
seen  him  pierced  to  the  heart,  and  though  he 
had  lain  in  the  grave. 


106  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 


THE  FORTY  DAYS. 

John  and  his  brother  James,  with  Peter, 
and  four  other  disciples,  were  one  day  walk- 
ing together  along  the  lake,  waiting  for  the 
time  when    they   were    to  meet  the   Lord. 
They  had  been  told  that  Jesus  was  going  to 
ascend  to  heaven,  and  perhaps  they  were  won- 
dering what  they  should  then  do,  and  whether 
they  should  come  back  to  their  nets  on  the 
lake.     They  all  agreed  to  take  a  boat  and  go 
out  to  fish.     They  prepared  nets  and  went 
out,  but  after  trying  for  the  whole  night  they 
took  none.     On  the  next  morning  some  one 
called  to  them  from  the  shore,  and  told  them 
if  they  would  throw  their  nets  on  the  other 
side  of  the  boat,  they  would  be  sure  to  find 
some.     They  did  so,  and  when  they  began  to 
draw  their  net  up  again,  it  was   so  full  that 
they  could  not  get  it  out  of  the  water. 

John  at  once  said  it  must  be  Jesus  who 
had  told  them  where  to  throw  the  net.  He 
remembered  that  the  Lord  had  performed  a 
similar  miracle  when  he  had  first  called  them 
on  the  lake,  several  years  before.     John  told 


THE  FORTY    DAYS.  107 

Peter  it  was  certainly  the  Lord.  Peter 
would  not  wait  till  the  boat  could  be  brought 
to  shore,  but  jumped  into  the  lake,  and  swam 
to  the  place  where  Jesus  stood.  John  and 
the  others  soon  brought  the  boat  to  the  same 
spot,  dragging  the  net  full  of  fishes  through 
the  water.  The  seven  disciples  now  met 
their  Lord  with  jo3f.  They  saw  by  this  act 
that  he  had  the  same  divine  power  as  he  had 
before  his  death,  and  when  he  first  called 
them  to  follow  him. 

They  dragged  the  fishes  on  the  land,  and 
broiling  some,  ate  of  them.  When  they  had 
finished,  Jesus  asked  Peter  three  times  if  he 
loved  him.  This  may  have  been  intended 
to  remind  Peter  that  he  had  three  times  de- 
nied him,  and  that  he  ought  to  be  now  very 
careful  in  what  he  said,  for  the  time  was  com- 
ing in  which  he  would  have  greater  trials 
and  temptations  than  he  had  in  the  hall  of 
Caiaphas.  But  Peter  answered  him  each 
time,  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee," 
and  each  time  he  was  told  to  feed  the  sheep  or 
lambs  of  Christ,  meaning  that  he  was  to  show 
his  love  by  acting  to  his  people  like  a  kind 
and  careful  shepherd.     Jesus  then  signified 


108  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

to  him  that  the  time  would  come  when  he 
should  be  bound  and  put  to  death  for  his 
sake.  But  Peter  was  now  strengthened  by 
faith  in  his  Lord,  and  was  not  alarmed  by 
what  he  foretold ;  so  that  when  Jesus  told 
him  to  follow  him,  immediately  he  arose  and 
went  after  him.  When  Peter  rose  up  to  fol- 
low Jesus,  John  also  walked  after  them. 
Peter,  observing  him,  asked  the  Lord  what 
he  should  do  ?  for  he  was  anxious  to  know 
what  would  happen  to  a  disciple  so  much 
favoured  as  the  beloved  apostle.  Jesus  re- 
proved his  curiosity,  by  asking  if  he  should 
choose  John  to  remain  until  he  should  come, 
what  difference  did  it  make  to  Peter  ?  The 
apostles  misunderstood  this,  and  thought  that 
Jesus  meant  that  John  should  never  die  ;  but 
John  himself  did  not  imagine  this. 

At  various  times  and  in  different  places,  for 
the  space  of  forty  days,  the  apostles  saw  the 
Lord,  and  he  gave  them  directions  how  they 
were  to  act,  and  spoke  to  them  on  many  subjects 
which  they  had  not  clearly  understood  before. 
By  his  divine  power  he  enabled  them  to  un- 
derstand the  Scriptures  better  than  they  had 
ever  done.     He  showed  them  how  the  pro- 


THE    FORTY    DAYS.  109 

phecies  had  been  fulfilled  in  his  death  and  re- 
surrection. He  now  proved  to  them  that  it 
was  necessary  that  he  should  have  died  to 
nmake  atonement  for  sin,  so  that  pardon  might 
be  obtained  by  all  who  should  repent  and 
trust  their  souls  to  him  in  real  faith  ;  and  that 
this  salvation  was  not  procured  for  the  Jews 
only,  but  for  sinners  of  all  nations.  He  told 
them  that  they  must  now  go  and  spend  their 
lives  in  preaching  this  tnith  everywhere,  and 
in  giving  their  witness  to  his  death  and  resur- 
rection. They  were  to  wait  at  Jerusalem 
until  Jesus  should  leave  the  earth,  and  send 
from  heaven  the  Holy  Spirit  to  prepare  them 
still  better  for  their  work.  But  as  soon  as 
this  took  place,  they  were  to  go  into  all  the 
world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture ;  the  Lord  declaring  that  those  who  be- 
lieved the  gospel  and  obeyed  it  should  be 
forgiven  and  saved  for  ever,  and  that  those 
who  would  reject  it  should  be  condemned  to 
everlasting  punishment. 

There    were   many  important  truths    and 
directions  which  Christians  ought  to  know, 
that  the   Lord   did    not    speak   to   his   dis- 
ciples during   his  life  on  the  earth.     But  all 
K 


110  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

these  were  revealed  to  the  apostles  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  they  were  preached  by  them, 
and  written  in  their  epistles.  We  should  re- 
member, in  reading  the  New  Testament,  that 
whatever  is  there  written  by  Divine  direction 
is  just  as  true  and  important  as  if  the  Lord 
Jesus  had  spoken  it;  for  it  was  revealed  by 
his  Spirit ;  and  if  we  wish  to  know  all  the 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion,  we  must 
read  the  Epistles  and  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  as 
well  as  the  four  Gospels. 

The  Lord  spent  nearly  six  weeks  on  earth 
after  he  had  risen  from  the  sepulchre.  That 
was  long  enough  time  for  the  apostles  and 
other  disciples  to  be  convinced  that  it  was 
their  crucified  Lord  who  had  been  restored  to 
life,  and  to  teach  the  eleven  what  they  were 
to  do  after  he  should  finally  leave  them . 


THE    ASCENSION.  11 

THE  ASCENSION. 

At  the  end  of  the  forty  days  the  Lord  took 
the  apostles  again  to  the  Mount  of  Olives. 
Jesus  and  his  apostles  were  now  to  separate, 
never  again  to  meet  in  this  life.  He  was 
going  to  his  throne  in  heaven,  and  to  the  glory 
which  he  had  with  the  Father  before  the 
worlds  were  made  ;  they  to  tell  the  Jews  that 
their  Messiah  had  appeared,  and  all  the  world 
that  a  Saviour  had  died,  and  had  gone  to 
heaven  to  make  intercession  for  those  who 
should  repent  and  believe.  It  must  have 
been  a  solemn  and  interesting  time.  Jesus 
loved  them  to  the  last,  and  as  his  parting  act 
of  love  he  lifted  up  his  hands  to  heaven  and 
blessed  them.  Whilst  he  was  blessing  them, 
he  was  separated  from  them,  and  he  arose 
from  the  mount  in  a  cloud  which  soon  hid 
him  from  their  sight.  While  they  were  look- 
ing upward  earnestly  after  him,  two  beings, 
who  were  no  doubt  angels,  appeared  to  them, 
as  if  sent  by  the  Lord  to  comfort  them.  They 
declared  to  the  apostles  that  the  same  Lord, 
who  had  now  ascended  from  the  earth  in  a 
cloud,  would  in  the  end  of  the  world  return 


112  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

in  the  same  manner,  to  judge  men  according 
to  the  gospel  which  they  were  now  to  preach. 
Their  Lord  was  no  longer  their  earthly 
companion,  as  he  had  been  for  not  less  than 
three  years.  He  was  now  exalted  to  the 
right  hand  of  God,  and  the  apostles  wor- 
shipped the  ascended  Saviour.  Having  done 
this  they  went  back  to  Jerusalem. 


PENTECOST.  113 


PENTECOST. 


After  returning  to  the  city,  John  and  the 
ten  other  apostles  met  together  for  the  pur- 
pose of  prayer.  There  were  a  few  others  of 
the  dearest  friends  of  Christ  with  them,  and 
among  them  his  mother.  They  did  not  meet 
merely  to  talk  about  the  wonderful  things 
that  had  occurred,  and  to  ask  what  should 
next  take  place.  They  felt  more  than  ever 
the  want  of  grace  to  teach  and  guide  them, 
now  that  their  Lord  had  left  them.  But  they 
knew  he  was  only  taken  out  of  their  sight. 
Like  all  pious  people,  they  wished  to  speak 
to  their  Saviour  in  the  only  way  that  was  left 
to  them.  That  was  by  prayer.  None  but 
Christians  know  how  comforting  it  is  in  time 
of  sorrow  or  trial,  to  pray.  It  is  going  to 
their  best  friend,  and  telling  him  their  distress, 
and  they  know  that  he  is  able  to  help  them. 
And  for  the  same  reason,  they  love  to  go  to 
him  that  they  may  become  more  like  him  in 
holiness,  and  in  every  thing  that  is  excellent 
and  pure.  For  the  more  we  are  with  a  per- 
son we  love,  the  more  we  get  to  resemble 
k2 


114  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

them.  And  the  more  Christians  think  of  Christ, 
and  follow  his  example,  and  look  to  him  for 
direction  and  help,  the  more  will  they  become 
like  their  blessed  Lord,  and  be  prepared  to  meet 
him  in  heaven.  It  is  no  wonder  then  that  the 
apostles  and  the  other  friends  of  Jesus  met  to 
pray  as  soon  as  he  had  left  them,  and  that 
they  found  it  so  happy  an  employment  as  to 
continue  in  it  for  some  time. 

As  the  Lord  wished  to  have  twelve  apostles, 
and  as  the  wretched  Judas  had  hung  himself 
soon  after  he  had  betrayed  his  Master,  Mat- 
thias was  now  chosen  in  his  place.  A  few 
days  after  this,  the  Jewish  feast  called  Pen- 
tecost took  place,  which  was  fifty  days  after 
the  Passover.  It  was  then  that  the  promise 
of  the  Lord  was  fulfilled,  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
should  be  sent  down  on  the  apostles.  They 
were  enabled  suddenly  to  speak  in  different 
languages,  though  they  had  never  learned 
them.  Besides  this,  they  were  so  guided  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  that  all  their  preaching  and 
teaching  should  be  just  as  the  Lord  would 
have  it  done,  and  without  any  mistake  or 
ignorance.     This  is  called  inspiration.     And 


PENT£COSi'.  iiO 

it  is  because  the  apostles  were  inspired  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  that  all  they  wrote,  as  well 
as  what  they  spoke,  is  known  to  be  from 
God.  And  on  this  account  w^e  should  receive 
their  letters,  or  epistles  as  they  are  called, 
and  their  sermons  and  remarks  as  they  are 
recorded  in  the  book  of  the  Acts,  as  the  word 
of  God. 

As  soon  as  the  people  heard  that  the  apos- 
tles could  speak  in  so  many  different  lan- 
guages, a  great  multitude  of  people  came  to 
see  them.  But  the  apostles  did  not  wish  to 
make  a  show  of  it,  as  if  they  were  proud  of 
what  God  had  enabled  them  to  do.  They 
made  use  of  this  power  to  preach  the  gospel 
at  once  to  all  the  people,  from  different  parts 
of  the  w^orld,  who  came  out  of  curiosity  to 
hear  them.  And  during  that  very  day  about 
three  thousand  persons  were  converted,  and 
believed  in  Jesus.  God  continued  to  bless 
the  preaching  of  the  apostles  in  Jerusalem,  so 
that  every  day  some  souls  were  added  to  the 
church  there,  which,  before  Pentecost,  had 
only  one  hundred  and  twenty  members. 

We  d)  not  know  how  John  was  particu- 
larly employed  at  this  time.     Peter  was  the 


^16  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

principal  preacher,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  other  apostles  were  verj'-   active  in 
teaching  the  people  and  conversing  with  them, 
and  explaining  what  they  wanted  to  under 
stand. 


THE  LAiME   BEGGAR.  117 


THE  LAME  BEGGAR. 

About  this  time,  however,  John  and  Peter 
performed  a  miracle  which  caused  great  aston- 
ishment among  the  people.  They  were  going 
one  afternoon  about  three  o'clock  to  the  tem- 
ple. That  was  the  time  in  which  the  evening 
sacrifice  was  offered,  and  many  persons  went  to 
see  it,  and  to  offer  their  prayers.  As  John  and 
Peter  were  going  into  one  of  the  gates,  a  lame 
beggar,  who  was  sitting  there,  asked  them  to 
give  him  something ;  for  he  was  poor,  and 
could  not  walk.  The  apostles  stopped,  and 
Peter  spoke  to  the  man,  who  looked  at  them 
very  attentively,  supposing  they  were  a?bout 
to  give  him  some  money.  But  Peter  told  him 
that  he  had  neither  gold  nor  silver  to  give 
him,  though  he  would  give  him  what  he  could. 

How  surprised  he  must  have  been  to  hear 
Peter  then  tell  him  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Nazareth  to  get  up  and  walk  !  The  beggar 
probably  remembered  that  a  person  of  that 
name  had  been  crucified  six  or  eight  weeks 
before,  but  could  hardly  imagine  how  he  could 
be  cured  through  him  of  a  lameness,  that  lie 


118  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

had  had  ever  since  he  was  born.  Or  the  beg- 
gar may  have  heard  Jesus  preach  in  the  tem- 
ple, and  have  akeady  believed  in  him,  and  did 
not  doubt  that  his  apostles,  in  his  name,  could 
restore  him.  However  this  may  have  been, 
Peter  took  him  by  the  hand  and  helped  him  to 
get  up.  The  poor  man  now  found  that  he 
could  stand,  then  he  walked,  and  at  last  so 
joyful  and  thankful  was  he  for  this  mercy,  that 
he  leaped  about,  and  praised  God  for  his  good- 
ness. He  was  very  thankful  to  Peter  and 
John  for  their  kindness,  and  held  them  as  if 
he  did  not  want  them  to  go  away.  But  he 
knew  that  it  was  the  Lord  who  had  given  them 
power  to  heal  him,  and  that  it  was  not  in  their 
own  name,  but  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  that  they 
had  done  it ;  therefore,  he  praised  God,  and 
went  with  the  two  apostles  into  the  temple,  to 
offer  up  his  thanksgiving  at  the  time  of  even- 
ing prayer. 

If  this  beggar  was  so  thankful  for  being 
enabled  to  walk  when  he  had  been  more  than 
forty  years  without  being  able  to  do  it  before, 
how  should  those  feel  who  have  never  known 
what  it  is  to  be  lame  ?  This  poor  man  had 
to  be  carried  every  day  to  the  gate  of  the  tern- 


THE  LAME  BEGGAR.  ll9 

pie,  that  he  might  get  enough  from  the  people 
who  would  pity  him,  to  buy  himself  food  and 
clothes.  But  how  many  of  the  readers  of  this 
history  have  always  had  the  use  of  their 
limbs,  and  have  no  need  of  begging  to  supply 
their  wants  !  They  have  greater  reason  to  be 
thankful  than  this  poor  lame  beggar,  and  yet 
it  is  likely  they  have  never  thought  of  thank- 
ing God  that  they  have  strength  to  walk,  and 
that  they  have  parents  and  friends  to  take  care 
of  them,  or  that  they  are  able  to  take  care  of 
thempelves. 


120  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 


JOHN  AND  PETER  IMPRISONED  AND 
BEATEN. 

But  this  act  of  charity  brought  Peter  and 
John  into  some  trouble.  When  the  people 
saw  the  beggar,  that  had  been  so  long  sitting 
from  morning  to  night  without  being  able  to 
move,  all  at  once  walking  and  leaping  as  well 
as  any  one,  they  began  to  crowd  around  the 
apostles,  and  to  look  at  them  with  the  greatest 
curiosity  and  astonishment.  The  apostles 
thought  it  was  a  good  opportunity  for  speak- 
ing to  the  people  about  Christ,  and  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  them.  So  Peter  began  by  say- 
ing that  they  should  not  think  that  he  and 
John  had  performed  this  miracle  by  their  own 
power,  or  because  they  were  very  holy.  It  was 
in  the  name  of  Jesus,  he  said,  that  they  had 
done  it,  and  it  was  through  faith  in  him  that  the 
beggar  had  been  cured.  This  Jesus  they  had 
crucified;  but  he  begged  them  to  repent  of 
their  sins,  and  be  converted,  that  they  might 
be  pardoned  and  saved,  when  he  should  come 
again,  to  judge  the  world. 

While  Peter  and  John  were  preaching  in 


JOHN  AND  PETER  IMPRISONED.  121 

this  way,  a  number  of  priests  and  other  per 
sons  came  to  the  place.  They  were  very 
angry,  because  the  apostles  were  teaching  the 
people  such  things,  and  seized  them,  and  had 
them  put  into  a  prison,  or  some  such  place  of 
safety,  intending  to  have  them  tried  and  pun- 
ished the  next  day  ;  for  it  was  now  evening. 
But  no  man  can  prevent  the  truth  of  God  from 
doing  the  good  which  he  intends.  A  great 
number  of  people  who  heard  Peter  and  John 
preach  that  afternoon,  were  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  what  they  said,  and  became  Christians. 

The  next  day  there  was  a  great  meeting  of 
the  priests  and  rulers  and  other  officers  of  the 
Jews.  John  and  Peter  were  brought  before 
them,  and  as  they  had  done  nothing  that  was 
wrong,  the  officers  began  to  ask  them  by  what 
power,  or  in  whose  name  they  had  cured  the 
lame  man.  They  wished  to  find  some  excuse 
for  stopping  these  two  men  from  saying  any 
thing  more  about  Jesus,  whom  they  had  cru- 
cified. 

But  the  apostles  were  not  afraid  of  all  the 
great  men  before  whom  they  were  standing. 
Peter  boldly  told  them,  as  he  had  told  the 
people  the  evening  before,  that  it  was  through 

L 


122  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

the  help  of  Christ  they  had  performed  the  mi- 
racle ;  and  declared,  that  though  the  Lord  had 
been  despised  and  put  to  death,  there  was  no 
way  of  being  saved  except  through  him. 

When  the  priests  and  rulers  heard  Peter 
and  John  speak  so  boldly  about  the  Lord, 
they  were  astonished,  particularly  as  they 
knew  they  were  plain  men,  and  not  like  the 
learned  and  great  persons  who  were  commonly 
the  only  ones  that  could  speak  so  well.  Be- 
sides this,  the  very  man  they  had  cured  was 
now  standing  near  them,  and  all  the  people 
knew  that  he  had  never  been  able  to  walk  till 
the  apostles  had  told  him  to  arise.  They  did 
not  know,  therefore,  what  to  do  with  John 
and  Peter,  or  what  to  charge  them  with.  But 
at  last  they  concluded  to  forbid  them  saying 
any  thing  more  about  Jesus,  threatening  to 
punish  them  severely  if  they  should  be  found 
doing  it  again.  But  Peter  and  John  told  them 
plainly  that  they  could  not  disobey  God. 
He  had  sent  them  to  preach  salvation  through 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  they  must  do  this, 
whatever  trouble  it  might  bring  upon  them. 

When  this  was  over,  John  and  Peter  went 
to  a  meeting  of  Christians,  and  after  telling 


JOHN  AND  PETER  IMPRISONED.  123 

what  had  taken  place,  they  prayed  together  that 
the  Lord  would  enable  his  apostles  to  preach 
his  gospel,  without  the  fear  of  any  evil  that 
their  enemies  should  threaten,  and  that  they 
might  still  perform  miracles  in  his  name,  to 
prove  that  they  w^ere  sent  by  Him.  Their 
prayer  was  answered  at  once ;  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  granted  to  them,  and  they  preached 
without  fear,  and  enjoyed  that  delightful 
peace  and  happiness  in  their  minds, 
which  Jesus  had  promised  the  Comforter 
would  give  them.  The  priests  again  seized 
them,  and  put  them  into  the  common  jail ;  but 
the  Lord  sent  an  angel,  who  brought  them  out 
the  same  night,  and  commanded  them  to  con- 
tinue preaching  to  the  people.  They  did  so  ; 
and  when  they  were  brought  before  the 
priests  and  rulers  the  second  time,  they  again 
said  that  they  must  obey  God  rather  than  men, 
and  declared  that  the  same  Jesus  whom  they 
had  so  cruelly  put  to  death,  had  risen  from 
the  grave,  and  was  now  in  heaven  to  give  re- 
pentance and  pardon  to  sinners.  This  en- 
raged the  priests  still  more,  and  they  would 
have  killed  the  apostles,  if  one  of  their  learned 
teachers  of  the  law  had  not  advised  them  to 


124  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

wait,  and  see  if  God  would  show  whether  he 
approved  of  these  men  or  not.  The  apostles 
were  therefore  again  dismissed,  after  they  had 
been  shamefully  beaten.  But  they  went  on 
to  preach  every  day,  not  only  in  the  temple, 
but  going  to  the  people  in  their  houses,  and 
teaching  them  about  Jesus  Christ,  and  the/ 
way  of  salvation  through  him. 

Not  long  after  this,  one  of  the  disciples 
was  murdered  in  Jerusalem  on  account  of  his 
faithful  preaching.  His  name  was  Stephen. 
False  charges  were  brought  against  him,  as 
had  been  done  against  the  Lord,  and  when  He 
was  warning  the  Jewish  council  that  in  re- 
jecting Jesus  as  the  Saviour  they  were  re- 
sisting the  Holy  Ghost,  they  drove  him  out 
of  the  city,  and  stoned  him  to  death.  Stephen 
was  the  first  person  who  lost  his  life  in  con- 
sequence of  his  professing  the  religion  of 
Jesus.  He  was  the  first  martyr.  Since  his 
death  thousands  have  been  persecuted  and 
killed,  because  they  loved  Christ  and  his  gos- 
pel more  than  their  own  lives.  Every  one 
should  be  willing  to  lose  his  property  and  his 
life,  and  every  thing  else,  rather  than  deny 
the  Lord.     He  has  promised  to  be  with  those 


JOHN  AND  PETER  IMPRISONED.  125 

■who  put  their  trust  in  him,  even  in  time  of 
death,  and  to  receive  them  into  heaven.  And 
every  true  believer  has  such  confidence  in 
his  promises  and  his  love,  that  he  will  not 
fear  to  die. 


l2 


126  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 


SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

John  and  Peter  continued  to  be  active  in 
the  service  of  the  Lord.  They  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  other  apostles  to  preach  in 
Samaria,  and  they  went  through  many  of 
their  villages  proclaiming  the  gospel.  The 
feelings  of  John  were  very  different  now  than 
when  he  was  there  with  Jesus,  when  he  and 
his  brother  wished  to  call  for  lire  from  hea- 
ven to  destroy  the  Samaritans,  because  they 
would  not  receive  them  into  one  of  their 
cities.  They  often  went  together  to  different 
places,  and  though  Peter  was  generally  the 
one  who  spoke,  yet  the  lovely  and  gentle 
disposition  of  John  must  have  had  great  in- 
fluence in  doing  good,  and  in  recommending 
the  religion  they  taught.  Peter  was  a  man 
of  very  warm  feelings.  He  acted  and  spoke 
with  great  quickness,  and  sometimes  with 
too  much  haste.  John  seems  to  have  been 
more  mild  and  prudent.  It  was  therefore 
wise  that  two  such  men  should  go  together, 
that  they  might  advise  and  assist  each  other 
according  to  the  circumstances  in  which  they 


SPREAD    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  127 

should  be  placed.  It  seems  likely  thai  Peter 
w  as  best  as  a  preacher  and  speaker  ;  that  in 
cases  of  difficulty  he  was  more  bold  and  ardent 
than  John ;  and  that  his  talents  were  very 
valuable  in  proclaiming  and  defending  the 
tiuth,  in  the  midst  of  its  enemies  and  oppo- 
sers.  John,  we  should  suppose,  was  the 
most  useful  in  private ;  he,  probably,  was 
most  successful  by  his  conversation.  No  per- 
son, of  any  right  feelings,  could  know  such  a 
man  as  John,  without  loving  and  respecting 
him.  This  is  an  important  means  of  gaining 
and  exerting  influence  over  others.  John 
may  have  done  as  much  in  this  way,  as 
Peter  did  by  his  more  public  efforts.  At  all 
events,  the  Lord  knew  their  different  dispo- 
sitions and  talents,  and  sent  them  out  together 
on  the  most  important  duties. 

The  Christian  religion  continued  to  spread 
throughout  the  Jewish  country.  One  of  the 
most  bitter  enemies  of  Christ  and  his  gospel 
was  converted,  and  became  one  of  the  most 
active  preachers  that  ever  lived.  This  man 
had  stood  by  and  seen  Stephen  stoned  to 
death,  and  was  so  anxious  to  have  him  killed, 
that  when  the  men  who  stoned  him  put  off 


128  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

their  coats  for  the  purpose,  he  took  care  of 
them  till  it  was  all  over.  And  at  the  very  time 
he  was  converted,  he  was  going  to  Damascus 
at  the  head  of  a  company  of  men,  to  seize  all 
who  believed  in  Christ,  that  he  might  bring 
them  to  Jerusalem  and  have  them  punished. 
This  man  was  Saul  or  Paul,  and  he  became 
so  true  a  Christian,  and  so  active  in  the  ser- 
vice of  Christ,  that  though  he  was  not  one 
of  the  twelve  who  had  been  with  the  Lord, 
he  also  was  called  an  apostle. 

The  gospel  was  now  beginning  to  be 
preached  to  other  nations  than  the  Jews ; 
though  the  apostles  at  first  thought  that  Jesus 
only  came  to  be  the  Saviour  of  that  nation. 
The  Jews  called  all  other  nations  Gentiles  or 
Heathen,  and  believed  that  they  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  true  religion.  But  now  the 
Lord  taught  them,  that  when  he  had  com- 
manded them  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature,  he  meant  all  persons  in  the  world, 
whether  Jews  or  Gentiles.  And  the  aposdes 
rejoiced  in  the  delightful  fact  that  they 
might  proclaim  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  to 
all  nations  on  the  whole  earth. 


DEATH  OF  John's  brother.         129 

DEATH  OF  JOHN'S  BROTHER. 

But  whilst  they  were  enjoying  the  happi- 
ness of  seeing  the  religion  of  which  they  were 
once  almost  the  only  believers,  now  extending 
so  rapidly,  they  had  persecutions  and  afflic- 
tions to  suffer.  Herod  Agrippa,  the  king  of 
Judea,  was  opposed  to  the  gospel  and  wished 
to  please  the  Jews  by  afflicting  the  church  of 
Christ.  He  caused  James,  the  brother  of 
John,  to  be  seized  and  beheaded.  There 
is  no  account  of  his  being  charged  with  any 
other  offence  than  his  being  a  disciple  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  for  this  the  king  had  him 
put  to  death,  as  his  uncle  Herod  Antipas  had 
caused  John  the  Baptist  to  be  destroyed,  and 
in  the  same  manner. 

It  is  said  that  such  was  the  composure  and 
peace  which  James  showed  when  he  was 
condemned  to  death,  that  the  man  who  gave 
witness  against  him  to  Herod  became  con- 
vinced that  the  Christian  religion  was  true,  and 
declared  himself  to  be  a  disciple  of  Jesus. 
This  account  says  that  he  was  condemned  to 
die  at  the  same  time  with  James,  and  that  on 
their  way  to  the  place  of  execution  he  begged 


130  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

the  apostle  to  forgive  him ;  and  James,  turning 
to  him,  said,  "Peace  be  to  thee,"  and  kissed 
him.    They  were  beheaded  together. 

The  death  of  James  must  have  been  a  great 
affliction  to  John.  James  was  not  only  his 
brother,  but  he  was  a  Christian;  and  no  bro 
thers  are  so  much  attached  to  each  other  as 
those  who  are  truly  pious.  They  had  been 
brought  up  together  as  children,  and  as  men 
they  followed  the  same  business,  in  the  same 
boat.  They  had  been  called  at  the  same  time 
to  be  apostles  ;  and  had  together  left  all  to 
follow  Jesus.  Ever  since  that  time  they  had 
been  with  each  other,  and  the  Lord  had  taken 
them  both  with  him  in  the  most  important  and 
solemn  scenes  of  his  life.  To  lose  such  a 
brother,  and  in  such  a  way,  was  painful  in- 
deed. But  John  had  consolations  that  none 
but  Christians  can  have.  He  knew  that 
though  his  brother  had  been  inhumanly  mur 
dered,  he  had  the  promise  of  Christ  that  he 
had  prepared  a  dwelling-place  for  him  in  hea- 
ven. There  he  expected  to  meet  him  in  a 
short  time,  and  there  they  would  both  join 
their  beloved  Saviour  and  never  more  be  sepa- 
rated.    Oh,  how  unhappily  must  those  bro- 


DEATH  OF  John's  brother.         131 

thers  and  sisters  feel,  who  have  no  reason  to 
think  they  will  thus  meet  together,  and  be  for 
ever  with  the  Lord  !  Must  they  separate  for 
ever  ?  Or  must  they  all  be  unhappy  for  ever  ? 
This  is  enough  to  make  every  one  anxious 
not  only  for  himself,  but  for  all  whom  he 
loves,  that  when  one  is  taken  away  by  death, 
the  rest  may  not  sorrow  as  those  that  have  no 
hope. 

James  was  the  first  of  the  apostles  who 
died,  and  it  is  supposed  that  they  all,  like 
him,  died  as  martyrs,  for  the  sake  of  Christ, 
excepting  John.  When  James  was  killed, 
Herod  next  seized  Peter  and  put  him  in 
prison,  where  he  was  chained  and  guarded  by 
soldiers.  But  the  Lord  brought  him  out,  and  de- 
livered him  from  Herod's  power.  Soon  after 
this,  Herod  was  seized  with  a  sudden  and 
most  painful  disease,  whilst  he  was  allowing 
the  people  to  praise  him  as  a  god  ;  and  he 
died  in  a  most  dreadful  manner.  Peter  lived 
probably  thirty  years  after  this,  and  preached 
the  gospel  to  the  Gentile  nations,  and  it  is 
supposed  that  he  was  put  to  death  in  Rome 
as  a  martyr.  It  is  said  that  he  was  crucified 
with  his  head  downwards. 


132  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

After  the  death  of  James  we  do  not  know 
much  more  of  the  history  of  John.  He  pro- 
bably spent  most  of  his  time  in  Jerusalem. 
It  was  important  that  some  of  the  apostles 
should  remain  there,  as  there  would  be  many 
occasions  for  those  who  were  going  abroad  to 
preach  the  gospel,  to  ask  their  advice  and  di- 
rection. One  such  case  is  known.  When 
Paul  and  Barnabas  thought  that  some  persons 
were  teaching  what  was  not  right,  it  was  de- 
termined that  they  would  ask  the  opinion  of 
the  apostles  and  elders  in  Jerusalem.  They 
met  for  this  purpose,  and  John  was  one  of 
the  principal  persons  in  the  meeting ;  for 
Paul,  writing  about  it  aftei  wards  in  a  letter  to 
the  Christians  in  Galatia,  said  that  John, 
Peter,  and  James  (the  son  of  Alpheus)  ap- 
peared to  be  pillars,  or  chief  supporters  of  the 
church  in  Jerusalem.  This  meeting  or  coun- 
cil was  held  about  the  year  50,  nearly  twenty 
years  after  the  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 


JOHN    IN    EPHESUS.  133 


JOHN  IN  EPHESUS. 

Up  to  this  time  we  have  gathered  our  ac- 
count of  the  life  of  John  from  the  New  Tes- 
tament. The  history  of  the  rest  of  his  life  is 
very  uncertain,  but  we  shall  give  it  as  well  as 
it  can  be  collected  from  other  histories. 

It  appears  that  after  spending  many  years 
at  Jerusalem,  the  mother  of  Jesus  having  died 
there,  John  went  into  Asia  Minor.  In  the 
year  71  all  that  the  Lord  had  foretold  of 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  temple 
came  to  pass.  It  was  to  John  and  three 
other  apostles  who  came  to  him  on  the  Mount 
of  Olives,  that  Jesus  had  made  known  what 
should  take  place  at  this  time.  John  must 
have  been  expecting  the  fulfilment  of  the  pre- 
diction, and  it  was  perhaps  one  of  the  reasons 
why  he  left  the  city.  It  did  not,  therefore, 
surprise  him  when  he  heard  of  it,  and  though 
it  was  nearly  forty  years  since  Jesus  had  de- 
clared it,  it  only  proved  to  him,  as  it  ought  to 
us,  that  the  threats  and  promises  of  God  will 
certainly  be  fulfilled,  though  they  may  sorae- 
M 


134  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

times  seem  to  be  delayed.  Not  a  stone  of  the 
temple  was  left  upon  another,  and  its  very 
foundations  were  ploughed  up.  The  wretched 
inhabitants  of  the  city  were  destroyed  by  fire, 
famine,  and  the  sword,  or  tortured  and  cruci- 
fied to  death ;  and  those  that  escaped  death 
in  the  city,  were  carried  away  as  slaves,  or 
thrown  to  wild  beasts  in  the  Roman  theatres. 
How  distressing  this  account  must  have  been 
to  John  !  Yet  he  knew  that  the  guilty  people 
brought  these  judgments  upon  themselves  by 
their  obstinate  rejection  of  the  Messiah. 

John  lived  principally  in  the  city  of  Ephe- 
sus,  a  large  and  splendid  city  on  the  river 
Cayster.  The  gospel  had  been  first  preached 
there  by  the  apostle  Paul  about  the  year  54,  at 
which  time  he  found  the  city  wholly  given  to 
idolatry.  When  John  lived  there,  there  were 
many  Christians  in  the  city.  There  were  also 
many  other  places  in  that  part  of  Asia  where 
were  Christian  churches,  as  Laodicea,  Smyr- 
na, Sardis,  and  others.  It  was  therefore  a 
very  important  situation  for  an  aged  and  ex- 
perienced apostle  to  reside  in.  He  probably 
spent  much  of  his  time  in  visiting  these  dif- 


JOHN  IN  EFHESUS. 


135 


•    Thyatira 


MEDITERRANEAN      SEA 


ferent  churches,  and  the  people  must  have 
been  very  glad  to  receive  the  man  who  had 
been  the  beloved  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  who  could  tell  them  so  much  about  him 
and  his  gospel.  We  may  feel  very  sure  that 
one  of  the  duties  he  often  spoke  to  them  about, 
was  that  of  loving  each  other,  and  that  he  set 
an  example  of  this  himself.  For  this  was  the 
subject  he  delighted  to  speak  and  write  about. 
As  he  said — "  He  that  loveth  not,  knoweth  not 


136  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

God  ;foT  God  is  love.^^  And  when  speaking 
of  the  wonderful  love  of  God,  in  sending  his 
Son  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  he  would 
say  to  Christians — ^^ Beloved,  if  God  so  loved 
us,  we  ought  also  to  love  one  another.'*^ 

But  mild  and  kind  as  were  his  character, 
and  his  doctrines,  even  John  did  not  escape 
the  hatred  of  the  wicked.  In  the  year  81, 
Domitian  became  emperor  of  Rome.  He  was 
a  cruel  tyrant,  and  delighted  in  wickedness. 
As  the  Roman  power  at  that  time  extended 
into  Asia,  John  was  within  the  reach  of  this 
emperor,  who  hated  a  religion  that  was  so 
pure  and  different  from  his  own  character  as 
that  of  the  gospel.  He  of  course  hated  all 
who  loved  and  obeyed  the  gospel,  and  perse- 
cuted and  destroyed  many  Christians.  It  is 
said,  that  he  ordered  John  to  be  thrown  into 
a  bath  of  boiling  oil,  and  that  the  apostle  was 
not  injured.  But  whether  this  is  true  or  not,  it 
is  certain  that  the  emperor  wished  to  put  him 
out  of  the  way.  John  was  known  as  the 
principal,  perhaps  the  only,  apostle  then  alive, 
and  his  influence  was  great  in  Asia.  The 
emperor,  therefore,  ordered  him  to  be  ban- 


JOHN  IN  EPHESUS.  137 

ished  to  an  island  of  the  Mediterranean  sea. 
John  was  now  about  ninety  years  old,  and 
was  thus  forced  to  leave  his  Christian  friends 
and  the  beloved  churches  of  Christ,  and  go  to 
live  on  a  barren  island  like  a  criminal. 


m2 


138 


THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 


JOHN  IN  PATMOS. 

The  place  to  which  John  was  sent  was 
Patmos,  an  island  in  that  branch  of  the  Medi- 
terranean sea  which  was  called  the  iEgean 
sea,    or  Archipelago,   and   not   many  miles 


ifhUipP 


,,  A  N  K  A  N  s 


-,\ 


.y^        f\uuiiM^>^ 


'^iuj^^m 


from  the  coast  of  Asia.  It  is  a  rocky,  barren 
spot,  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  in  circum- 
ference, and  was  used  by  the  Komaas  as  a 


JOHN  IN  PATMOS.  139 

place  of  exile  for  those  who  had  been  con- 
demned for  their  crimes. 

One  Sabbath,  which  since  the  resurrection 
of  our  Lord  was  observed  on  Sunday  instead  of 
Saturday,  and  called  the  Lorcfs-day,  a  most 
•emarkable  occurrence  took  place.  It  is  likely 
that  John,  whilst  in  Patmos,  spent  these  holy 
days  in  prayer  and  meditation ;  as  he  would 
not  be  permitted  to  preacli  the  gospel  to  the 
other  prisoners,  if  any,  on  the  island.  But 
the  Lord  did  not  forget  or  forsake  him.  On 
this  day,  whilst  he  was  alone,  he  heard  a 
voice  speaking  behind  him,  which  sounded  as 
loud  as  a  trumpet,  and  caused  him  to  listen. 
The  voice  was  from  God,  and  told  him  he 
was  going  to  see  some  things  which  he  must 
write  an  account  of  in  a  book,  and  send  it  to 
the  churches  of  Ephesus,  Laodicea,  and  the 
others  which  John  well  knew  in  Asia.  Upon 
hearing  the  voice  John  tnrned  round,  and  saw 
what  seemed  to  be  seven  large  candlesticks 
made  of  gold,  and  among  them  a  person  like 
his  beloved  Lord,  but  in  a  very  glorious  and 
splendid  appearance.  John  was  struck  with 
so  much  astonishment  and  awe,  that  he  fell  at 
his  feet,  as  if  he  were  dead.     But  the  Lord 


140  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

laid  his  hand  upon  him,  and  told  him  not 
to  be  afraid,  for  he  was  the  first  and  the 
last ;  lie  that  had  been  dead,  but  was  now 
alive,  and  would  be  alive  for  ever,  and  had 
the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  a  long  dream,  or  vision, 
in  which  the  Lord  caused  many  things 
to  appear  before  John,  as  they  were  about 
to  take  place  in  the  course  of  time.  The 
different  persons  and  events  were  not  shown 
by  name  or  by  description,  but  by  things 
that  are  like  them.  And  though  John  wrote 
down  what  he  saw,  yet  there  are  a  great 
many  parts  of  this  vision,  the  meaning  of 
which  cannot  be  easily  understood.  The  rea- 
son of  this  is,  that  the  vision,  or  revelation,  was 
not  only  for  John,  but  for  Christians  of  all 
times  to  read  ;  and  as  nearly  the  whole  of  it  is 
a  prediction,  it  was  better  to  speak  of  things 
that  were  going  to  happen,  in  such  a  way  that 
persons  would  not  understand  it  until  they 
had  really  taken  place.  For  then  it  would  be 
a  proof  that  God  knew  what  wa-s  going  to 
occur,  and  that  men  had  not  dons  the  things 
which  had  been  predicted,  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  them  to  pass. 


JOHN  IN  PATM03.  141 

Some  parts  of  John's  vision  were  of  things 
that  seemed  to  take  place  in  heaven.  At  one 
time  he  saw  what  appeared  to  be  the  throne 
of  God,  with  holy  beings  praising  him.  Then 
he  saw  a  lamb  which  seemed  to  have  been 
once  killed,  but  had  become  alive.  This  re- 
presented Jesus  Christ, 'who  was  called  the 
Lamb  of  God,  because  he  died  as  a  sacrifice 
for  sin.  And  to  show  the  glory  that  Christ 
has  in  heaven,  John  saw  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  angels  praising  him.  One  of  their 
songs  was  :  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was 
slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wis- 
dom, and  strength,  and  honour,  and  glory, 
and  blessing.''^  And  to  show  that  Jesus  was 
now  reigning  with  his  Father  in  heaven,  one 
of  the  songs  was  this — "  Blessing,  and  ho- 
nour, and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  him  that 
sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb, 
for  ever  and  ever."  Thus  was  Christ  shown 
to  be  worshipped  with  the  Father,  as  one 
God  with  him.  Some  of  the  heavenly  beings 
had  censers,  or  bowls,  of  delightful  odours, 
that  were  offered  to  the  Lamb ;  which  was 
meant   to  signify,  that   prayers  were  made 


142  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

to  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  through  him  to  the 
Father,  as  the  mediator  and  intercessor  of  his 
people. 

Many  things  were  shown  in  this  vision 
that  were  to  take  place  in  the  history  of  the 
church  of  Christ.  One  of  the  appearances 
that  John  saw  was  an  angel  flying  with  the 
gospel,  which  he  was  about  to  carry  to  every 
nation  on  the  earth.  This  signified  that  God 
intended  that  the  whole  world  shall  have  the 
gospel,  and  hear  of  the  way  of  salvation 
through  Jesus  Christ.  And  though  there  are 
now  six  hundred  millions  of  our  fellow  crea- 
tures who  have  not  yet  received  the  gospel, 
this  very  vision  is  one  of  the  promises  which 
encourages  the  people  of  God  in  sending 
missionaries,  Bibles,  tracts,  and  books,  all 
over  the  world. 

John  also  understood  from  the  vision  that 
a  time  would  come  when  there  should  be 
great  peace  and  righteousness  on  the  earth 
for  a  long  period.  This  was  represented  by 
an  angel  coming  from  heaven  and  chaining 
Satan,  and  fastening  him  in  prison  for  a  thou- 
sand years.     This  is  the  time  that  is   still 


JOHN   IN  PATMOS.  143 

looked  and  prayed  for  as  the  Millenninm. 
The  last  thing  that  John  saw  in  his  vision,  or 
trance,  was  a  representation  of  heaven.  He 
saw  a  beautiful  and  happy  place,  where  there 
were  none  but  good  and  holy  persons. 
There  was  no  sickness  nor  distress  there.  No 
one  was  in  pain  ;  no  one  was  in  danger  of  dy- 
ing, for  there  was  no  such  thing  as  death.  The 
Lord  Jesus  was  there,  and  every  one  was 
happy  with  him.  All  was  glorious,  and  pure, 
and  delightful ;  and  it  was  to  last  for  ever  and 
ever.  The  Lord  would  never — never  leave  the 
place,  and  his  people  would  serve  him  there 
and  love  him,  and  be  loved  by  him  without 
any  end  or  change.  This  was  to  show  how 
holy  and  happy  heaven  is,  and  how  blessed 
are  they  that  do  his  commandments,  that 
they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and 
may  enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the  city. 
The  vision  ended  by  representing  the  Re- 
deemer and  the  Holy  Spirit  calling  sinners 
to  cor}ie  ;  and  telling  all  who  heard  the  invi- 
tation to  say  to  others  come;  and  inviting  all 
who  are  willing  to  come,  to  enjoy  this  happi- 
ness. And  this  means  that  the  Lord  Jesus  who 
has  died  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  the  Holy  Spi- 


144  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

rit  who  changes  the  heart  and  makes  men  fit  for 
heaven,  are  willing  to  receive  every  sinner 
who  comes  repenting  of  his  sins,  and  sincerely 
trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  for  salvation. 

The  whole  account  which  John  wrote  of 
this  vision  is  in  the  last  book  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  is  called  the  Revelation  ; 
because  so  many  future  things  are  revealed 
or  made  known  in  it. 


John's  writings.  145 


JOHN'S  WRITINGS. 

The  emperor  Domitian,  who  banished  John 
to  Patmos,  died  in  the  year  96.  Upon  his 
death,  the  Roman  senate,  in  the  reign  of  the 
emperor  Nerva,  permitted  those  who  had 
been  exiled  to  return  to  their  homes  ;  John 
then  went  to  Ephesus.  How  rejoiced  must  his 
pious  friends  in  the  churches  have  been,  to  see 
the  aged  apostle  once  more,  after  an  absence  of 
not  much  less  than  two  years  !  But  though  he 
had  been  so  unjustly  treated,  he  did  not  en- 
courage them  to  indulge  any  angry  feelings 
towards  his  persecutors.  He  still  preached 
to  them  to  love  each  other,  and  to  be  at  peace 
with  all  men. 

John  was  now  very  aged,  and  could  not  ex- 
pect to  live  much  longer  to  preach  the  gospel, 
and  tell  what  he  had  heard  Jesus  say,  and 
what  he  had  seen  him  do.  There  were  three 
histories  then  published  of  the  Lord  ;  one  by 
the  apostle  Matthew,  one  by  the  evangelist 
Mark,  and  the  third  by  the  evangelist  Luke. 
Matthew  had  been  with  the  Lord,  and  had 
himself  seen  or  known  all   that  he  wrote. 

N 


146  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE. 

Mark  and  Luke  were  not  apostles,  but  were 
inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  write  their 
narratives.  The  same  Spirit  led  John  to 
determine  to  write  another  history.  For 
there  were  many  important  occurrences  and 
sayings  of  the  Lord  which  none  of  the  others 
had  published,  and  which  John  had  seen  and 
heard  himself.  For  though,  as  John  said,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  write  an  account  of 
all  that  Christ  said  and  did  during  the  time 
he  and  the  other  apostles  were  with  him,  yet 
there  were  many  things  which  ought  to  he 
known  to  all  Christians.  These  he  remem- 
bered well,  and  perhaps  had  kept  a  written 
account  of.  But  the  Holy  Spirit  directed  him, 
and  kept  him  from  all  mistake,  and  enabled 
him  to  relate  the  whole  without  error. 

Another  great  object  of  John  seems  to  have 
been  to  keep  Christians  from  ever  doubting 
whether  Jesus  was  really  a  divine  being. 
Notwithstanding  all  the  mighty  works  which 
he  had  done  to  prove  that  he  was  God,  as 
really  as  man,  some  persons  might  be  found 
who  would  venture  to  say  that  this  could  not 
be  true.  And  there  might  be  some  absurd 
attempts  made  to  explain  this  great   fact  in 


John's  writings.  147 

some  other  way  than  God  had  revealed  it. 
He  therefore  began  his  history  by  declaring, 
in  the  most  plain  and  positive  manner,  that 
the  Lord  Jesus,  or  as  he  is  called,  the  Word^ 
was  in  the  beginning  of  all  things,  before  the 
world  was  created :  that  he  was  with  God  ; 
and  that  he  was  God:  that  he  made  all 
things,  and  that  nothing  was  made  without 
him.  He  relates  that  Jesus  said  openly  to 
the  Jews,  /  and  my  Father  are  one,  and  to 
one  of  his  disciples.  He  that  hath  seen  me, 
hath  seen  the  Father — Believe  me  that  I 
am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  me. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  book  he  says  that 
he  had  written  it,  that  those  who  read  it 
might  "  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God;  and  that,  believing,  ye  might 
have  life  throuo;h  his  name." 

A  very  important  account  is  given  by  John 
which  is  not  mentioned  by  the  other  writers. 
It  is  the  conversation  which  Jesus  had  with 
Nicodemus,  a  Jewish  ruler,  in  which  the  Lord 
told  him  plainly  that  unless  the  heart  of  a 
man  is  renewed  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  can- 
not enter  heaven.  This  doctrine  is  often 
spoken  of  by  the    sacred  writers,  but  John 


148  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

gives  the  very  words  of  the  Lord  himself,  to 
convince  every  one  that  not  only  their  sins 
must  be  pardoned,  but  their  hearts  sanctified, 
that  they  may  be  fit  to  be  where  God  is. 
This  change  or  effect  our  Lord  called  a  re- 
generation^  or  new  hirth^  to  show  that  it  is 
like  making  a  man  a  new  being,  so  different 
is  he  from  what  he  was  before.  And  an- 
other most  solemn  and  interesting  portion  of 
the  gospel  of  John  is,  the  kind  advice  and 
comfort  the  Lord  Jesus  gave  to  his  disciples 
shortly  before  his  death,  and  the  prayer  he 
made  for  them,  which  are  found  in  the  four 
chapters  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  seven- 
teeth. 

It  was  whilst  he  lived  in  Ephesus,  either 
before  or  after  his  exile  to  Patmos,  that  John 
wrote  three  letters  which  are  part  of  the  New 
Testament.  The  first  was  probably  written 
to  Christians  everywhere,  and  not  to  any 
particular  people.  One  great  design  was,  as 
in  his  gospel,  to  teach  that  Jesus  Christ  was 
truly  God  as  well  as  man.  He  says  that  if 
any  one  denies  the  Son  of  God,  he  denies  the 
Father.  He  begins  his  letter,  as  he  did  his 
gospel,  by  calling  Jesus  "  the  Word,  and  the 


John's  writings.  149 

eternal  life  that  was  with  the  Father ;"  and 
ends  it  by  declaring,  This  is  the  true  God 
and  eternal  life. 

John  wrote  this  episde  with  as  much  ten- 
derness and  affection  as  an  aged  father  would 
write  a  letter  to  his  family,  from  whom  he 
was  soon  to  be  separated.  He  called  them 
his  "little  children,"  and  very  often  begged 
them  to  love  each  other  like  brothers.  In 
this  he  only  imitated  the  example  and  doc- 
trme  of  his  Lord,  who  shortly  before  his  death 
said  to  the  eleven  apostles,  "  Little  children, 
yet  a  little  while  I  am  with  you.  Ye  shall 
seek  me :  and  as  I  said  unto  the  Jews, 
whither  I  go,  ye  cannot  come  ;  so  now  I  say 
to  you.  A  new  commandment  I  give  unto 
you,  that  ye  love  one  another ;  as  I  have 
loved  you,  that  ye  also  love  one  another. 
By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my 
disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another."  In 
the  same  manner  John  wrote  to  all  Christians, 
assuring  them  that,  if  they  had  not  this  affec- 
tion, it  was  proof  they  were  not  the  children 
of  God.  He  spoke  to  them  much  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  telling  them  that  they  must  fol- 
n2 


150  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE- 

lovv  his  example,  and  look  to  him  for  help 
and  mercy.  And  as  he  had  heard  Jesus 
himself  once  say  that  his  people  must  de- 
pend upon  him,  just  as  the  branch  of  a  vine 
or  tree  has  to  depend  on  the  vine  or  tree 
itself,  so  John  said,  in  his  letter,  that 
Christians  must  still  depend  on  their  Sa- 
viour, until  he  should  come  in  the  last  day 
to  take  them  for  ever  to  himself.  He 
told  them  to  think  how  great  the  love  of 
God  was,  in  sending  his  own  Son  into  the 
world,  that  through  him  sinners  might  be 
pardoned,  and  be  treated,  for  his  sake,  as  his 
children.  And  when  he  spoke  of  the  love  of 
Christ  in  consenting  to  die  in  the  place  of 
sinners,  he  said  that  surely  they  should  love 
each  other,  and  be  kind,  and  do  good,  when- 
ever any  were  in  want  or  trouble.  "  In  this 
was  manifested  the  love  of  God  towards  us, 
because  that  God  sent  his  only  begotten  Son 
into  the  world,  that  we  might  live  through 
him.  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God, 
but  that  he  loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be 
the  propitiation  for  our  sins.  Beloved,  if 
God  so  loved  us,  we  ought  also  to  love  one 


JOHN  3  WRITINGS.  151 

another."     The  great  commandments  of  the 
gospel,  John  said,  are  these, — 

Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ; 
Love  one  another. 

There  is  another  letter  that  John  w^rote, 
called  in  the  New  Testament  his  second 
epistle.  This  is  very  short,  and  appears  to 
have  been  written  to  some  pious  woman. 
He  told  her  how  glad  he  was  to  find  her 
children  walking  in  the  true  and  right  way. 
Nothing  in  the  world  makes  a  religious  mother 
so  happy  as  to  see  her  children  growing  up  in 
the  love  of  God,  and  keeping  his  command- 
ments. John  knew  how  thankful  the  lady 
he  wrote  to  must  be  for  this  blessing.  But 
he  warned  her  to  be  careful ;  for  there  were 
many  persons  in  the  world  who  rejected 
Christ,  and  would  not  acknowledge  that  he 
had  come.  It  is  very  necessary  that  pious 
parents  should  try  to  keep  their  children  esta- 
blished in  the  truth.  This  they  should  do 
by  teaching  them  the  Scriptures,  and  praying 
constantly  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  help  them 
to  understand  and  believe  the  truth,  just  as 
God  has  revealed   it.     For  this  is  the  true 


152  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

disposition  in  which  to  receive  the  M^ord  of 
God.  This  is  true  faith,  to  believe  whatever 
God  says,  without  doubt  or  objection.  John 
therefore  advised  this  lady  to  keep  out  of  the 
company  of  all  persons  who  taught  differently 
from  the  Scriptures,  and  not  to  allow  such  to 
be  in  her  house  and  talking  to  her  children. 
He  begs  her  also  to  remember  the  great  com- 
mandment, Love  one  another. 

There  is  one  more  letter  of  John's,  which 
he  wrote  to  a  man  named  Gains.  There 
was  a  man  of  that  name  who  lived  in  Corinth, 
who  was  very  kind  to  the  apostle  Paul,  and 
to  many  other  Christians,  whom  he  was  glad 
to  have  staying  in  his  house  when  they  came 
to  that  city.  It  is  probable  this  was  the  per- 
son to  whom  John  wrote  this  letter,  for  in  it 
he  speaks  of  him  as  being  charitable  and 
helping  Christians  on  their  journeys.  John, 
in  his  affectionate  manner,  calls  him  one  of 
his  children,  and  tells  him  that  he  had  no 
greater  joy  than  to  find  his  children  walking 
in  the  truth. 

How  happy  would  it  be  if  all  men  were  to 
follow  the  advice  of  John,  and  love  each  other  ! 
Then  there  would  be  no  wars,  nor  quarrels, 


John's  writings.  153 

nor  violence.  Every  one  would  be  trying  to 
do  good  to  others.  And  this  is  the  way  in 
which  men  ought  to  live  ;  for  they  are  all 
brothers.  We  are  all  descended  from  the 
same  first  parents.  But,  above  all,  Christians 
should  love  each  other.  They  love  the  same 
Saviour  ;  they  are  like  his  family.  He  often 
told  them  they  must  be  united  with  him  and 
with  each  other,  and  that  there  should  be  no  dif- 
ference among  them,  any  more  than  the  limbs 
of  the  same  body  should  disagree  with  each 
other.  This  was  to  be  one  of  the  proofs  of 
the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion  in  all  ages 
of  the  world  ;  for  the  Lord  Jesus  praying  for 
his  apostles  said,  "  Neither  pray  I  for  these 
alone,  but  for  them  also  which  shall  believe 
on  me  through  their  word ;  that  they  all 
maybe  one  ;  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I 
in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us ; 
that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast 
sent  me."  Christians  may  worship  God  in 
different  places,  and  their  churches  have  dif- 
ferent names,  but  nothing  should  prevent 
their  loving  each  other.  Oh,  let  us  remem- 
ber what  John  has  written,  "  This  command- 
ment have  we  from  Him,  That  he  who  loveth 
God,  love  his  brother  also.^^ 


.54  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 


JOHN'S  OLD  AGE  AND  DEATH. 

After  his  return  from  Patmos  to  Ephesus, 
John  did  not  live  more  than  three  or  four 
years.  He  visited  the  different  churches, 
giving  them  his  advice,  and  going  among  them 
like  a  venerable  father.  An  ancient  writer  re- 
lates that  the  following  occurrence  took  place 
at  this  tim^. 

Whilst  he  was  visiting  the  members  of  a 
church  in  a  city  not  far  from  Ephesus,  he 
met  with  a  youth  with  whom  he  was  so  much 
pleased  that  he  hoped  he  would  become  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel.  He  told  this  to  the 
minister  of  the  church,  and  begged  him  to 
train  the  young  man  for  the  service  of  Christ. 
The  minister  did  as  John  requested,  and  took 
the  youth  to  his  own  house.  After  some 
time  he  was  baptized,  and  the  minister,  be- 
lieving him  to  be  a  sincere  Christian,  did  not 
attend  to  him  so  strictly  as  he  had  done.  The 
young  man,  perhaps,  thinking  like  too  many 
others,  that  he  was  safe  for  eternity  because 
he  was  a  member  of  the  church,  became  care 
less  in  his  conduct,  and  falling  into  bad  com 


John's  old  age  and  death.         155 

pany,  was  led  entirely  astray.  He  went  on 
from  one  sin  to  another,  until  at  last  he  be- 
came a  robber.  Having  given  up  all  his 
hopes,  he  tried  to  keep  away  the  dreadful  re- 
collections of  what  he  had  once  professed 
to  be,  by  becoming  worse  and  worse  in  his 
crimes.  He  gathered  other  robbers  together, 
and  was  their  leader,  exceeding  them  all  in 
cruelty  and  boldness. 

After  some  time,  John,  visiting  the  same 
city  again,  asked  the  minister  about  the  youth 
he  had  given  into  his  care.  When  he  was  told 
that,  instead  of  being  prepared  for  the  church, 
he  was  at  the  head  of  a  company  of  robbers  in 
the  mountains,  John  was  filled  with  distress. 
He  inquired  about  the  place  where  the  young 
man  was  supposed  to  be,  and  old  as  he  was, 
went  to  seek  for  him.  When  he  came  to  the 
mountain,  he  was  seized  by  some  of  the  band 
of  robbers.  He  asked  them  to  take  him  to 
their  captain.  They  did  so ;  but  when  the 
young  man  saw  that  they  were  bringing  into 
his  presence  the  aged  apostle  who  had  shown 
him  so  much  affection,  and  had  believed 
him  to  be  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  he  was  ashamed 
to  meet  him,  and  fled.     John  went  after  him, 


156  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

crying  out,  "Why  dost  thou  fly,  my  child, 
from  thy  unarmed  and  gray-haired  father? 
Have  pity  upon  me,  my  child  !  Be  not  afraid 
— there  is  still  hope.  I  will  intercede  for  thee 
with  Christ.  Stop  !  believe  that  Christ  has 
sent  me." 

The  young  man  stopped,  threw  away  his 
weapons,  and  began  to  tremble  and  weep  bit- 
terly. And  when  John  came  up  to  him 
he  knelt  down  before  the  aged  apostle,  and 
with  tears  entreated  his  forgiveness.  The 
writer  adds,  that  John  brought  him  back  to 
the  city,  and  by  the  blessing  of  God  on  his 
prayers,  fastings,  and  exhortations,  he  was 
restored  to  the  church,  and  lived  a  consistent 
Christian. 

John  was  now  approaching  the  hundredth 
year  of  his  age.  He  had  lived  to  see  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  and  was  left  the  only 
one  of  the  apostles,  and  perhaps  the  only  one 
of  those  who  had  seen  and  known  the  Lord 
Jesus  on  the  earth.  He  was  not  able  any- 
longer  to  leave  Ephesus,  and  visit  the  other 
churches  of  Asia.  He  must  have  felt  a  particu- 
lar interest  in  them,  after  the  solemn  messages 
which  the  Lord  had  sent  to  them  in  his  vision 


John's  old  age  and  death.        157 

in  Patmos.  Even  to  the  church  at  Ephesus 
the  Lord  had  said,  "  Remember  therefore 
from  whence  thou  art  fallen,  and  repent,  and 
do  the  first  works  ;  or  else  I  will  come  unto 
thee  quickly,  and  will  remove  thy  candlestick 
out  of  his  place,  except  thou  repent." 

At  last  he  became  so  feeble  that  he  could 
not  walk  to  the  place  of  worship.  But  he 
loved  it  too  well  to  be  absent,  and  he  used  to 
be  carried  there  every  Lord's-day  by  some  of 
his  pupils.  The  people  must  have  been  glad 
to  hear  him  speak,  but  he  had  not  strength  to 
say  much  ;  and  towards  the  last  part  of  his 
life  he  said  nothing  else  than  Little  chil- 
dren, LOVE  ONE  another.  When  he  was 
asked  why  he  said  this  so  often,  he  replied, 
"  Because  it  is  the  Lord's  command,  and  if 
that  alone  be  done  it  is  sufficient."  By  this 
he  no  doubt  meant  the  same  as  he  did  in  his 
letters,  when  he  said  that  the  love  of  Christians 
to  each  other  proves  that  they  are  the  true 
disciples  of  Christ.  "  We  know,"  said  he, 
"  that  we  have  passed  from  death  unto  life 
because  we  love  the  brethren.  If  we  love 
one  another,  God  dwelleth  in  us,  and  his  love 
is  perfected  in  us.     Beloved,  let  us  love  one 


158  THE    BELOVED    DISCIPLE. 

another;  for  love  is  of  God,  and  every  one 
that  loveth  is  born  of  God  and  knovi^eth  God." 
Or,  as  Jesus  himself  had  said,  "By  this  shall 
all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye 
have  love  one  to  another." 

In  this  way  did  the  beloved  disciple  spend 
the  last  years  of  his  life,  and  died  in  the  Lord 
about  the  year  100 ;  seventy  years  after  the 
crucifixion  of  the  Saviour,  and  seventy-three 
or  four  since  he  had  been  called  from  Genne- 
saret  to  follow  him.  He  had  followed  him  as 
his  disciple  on  earth,  and  nov/  followed  him 
to  the  mansions  which  he  had  gone  to  prepare 
for  him.  He  had  seen  a  representation  of 
heaven  in  his  vision  at  Patmos.  It  appeared 
to  him  as  a  splendid  city,  with  a  wall  whose 
foundations  were  precious  stones,  and  its  gates 
pearls  ;  whose  street  was  of  gold,  and  whose 
light  was  clear  as  crystal.  But  all  these 
were  but  comparisons  of  what  the  glory  of 
heaven  is.  It  is  not  a  superb  city,  where 
the  people  of  God  will  be  rewarded  with 
riches  and  pleasures  such  as  are  found  in  this 
world.  All  that  we  can  say  of  heaven  is 
that  it  is  perfectly  holy,  and  perpetually 
happy,  for  ever  and  ever. 


John's  old  age  and  death.        159 

The  promise  which  John  heard  was,  "  He 
that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things,  and  I 
will  be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son." 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  upon  his  death 
John  found  this  promise  fulfilled  to  him- 
self; for,  through  Christ,  he  had  overcome  sin 
and  the  world,  and  for  the  sake  of  what  Jesus 
did  and  suffered  as  his  Redeemer,  he  was  ac- 
knowledged as  a  child  of  God  and  an  heir  of 
heaven.  In  heaven  "  there  shall  be  no  more 
curse  ;  but  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb 
shall  be  in  it ;  and  his  servants  shall  serve 
him."  Does  the  reader  of  this  book  desire 
to  be  one  of  those  servants  ?  And  not  only 
to  serve,  but  to  reign,  for  ever  and  ever  ?  If  you 
do,  follow  the  example  of  John,  and  become 
the  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus ;  love  the 
Saviour  as  John  did,  and  you  too  will  be  a 
beloved  disciple.  But  that  you  may  do  this, 
you  must  go  to  Him,  repenting  of  your  sins, 
and  not  trusting  in  yourselves,  but  looking  to 
him  for  strength.  You  must  depend  on  his 
mercy  and  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
but  you  must  seek  for  them  with  earnestness. 
And  listen  to  the  encouragement  which  John 
himself  heard  from  Jesus, 


160  the  beloved  disciple. 

"  And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  come  : 
And  let  him  that  heareth  say,  come  : 
And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come  : 
And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 


the  end. 


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The  beloved  disciple. 

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